Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessIdentify proxy-fronted libsoup HTTP endpoint
-
DeliveryCraft RFC-violating chunk-size field (plus prefix or trailing chars)
-
ExploitForward malformed request through strict frontend proxy
-
ExecutionExploit parser differential to desynchronize request boundary state
-
PersistInject smuggled attacker-controlled request into libsoup backend stream
-
ImpactAccess or manipulate subsequent user session data
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V4 - API and Web Service HTTP request consistency
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires that libsoup be deployed as the HTTP backend behind a strict RFC 9112-compliant frontend proxy or load balancer - this is not a default libsoup deployment topology. The proxy must enforce well-formed chunk-size syntax while libsoup's parser accepts the violating input; without this differential, no smuggling surface exists. Direct client-to-libsoup access without an intermediary proxy does not expose this vulnerability. The CVSS vector (PR:N, UI:N) confirms no attacker authentication and no victim interaction are required once this topology is present. Exploitation is further limited by SSVC's non-automatable classification, indicating that mass scanning or scripted bulk exploitation is not straightforward - successful attacks likely require topology reconnaissance and request crafting tailored to the specific proxy product and configuration in use. |
| Impact | The provided CVSS score of 7.2 reflects a network-reachable, scope-changing flaw with no authentication or user-interaction requirement, but multiple independent signals indicate real-world exploitability is substantially more constrained than the raw score implies. EPSS registers only 0.17% at the 7th percentile, placing this in the bottom tier of near-term exploitation likelihood across all tracked CVEs. SSVC reinforces this: exploitation is classified as none, the attack is non-automatable, and technical impact is only partial - all consistent with the topology-specific nature of HTTP request smuggling, which demands a precisely configured proxy-backend pairing to be meaningful. The S:C (scope change) in the CVSS vector is technically justified, as successful smuggling can affect resources controlled by the proxy or other users' backend sessions, but the AC:L rating overstates ease of exploitation by not accounting for the non-default deployment precondition. No KEV listing and no identified POC code further reduce urgency. Organizations running libsoup services without a strict-mode frontend proxy face no practical exposure from this specific flaw. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker sends an HTTP request containing a malformed chunk-size header - for example, a size value prefixed with a plus sign or followed by alphabetic characters - to a service where a strict-mode reverse proxy (such as nginx with strict chunked parsing) fronts a libsoup-based backend. The proxy and libsoup parse the chunk boundary differently, causing libsoup to treat a portion of the attacker's request as the beginning of the next inbound request, allowing injection of an attacker-controlled request into the backend processing pipeline. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, though the request-smuggling technique class is well-documented and known to security researchers. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv2 – Aug 24, 2026
HTTP request smuggling in libsoup (GNOME's HTTP client/server library) enables network-accessible attackers to inject hidden requests into backend streams by exploiting a parsing differential between libsoup's permissive chunked transfer encoding parser and strict RFC 9112-compliant frontend proxies. All libsoup versions are affected as tracked under CPE cpe:2.3:a:gnome:libsoup, with confirmed vendor impact across Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 through 10.0. No public exploit code or active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis; SSVC classifies exploitation as none with non-automatable, partial technical impact.
Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
HTTP request smuggling in libsoup due to permissive chunked transfer encoding parser allows remote attackers to poison caches or bypass security filters when libsoup is deployed behind a strict frontend proxy. The parser silently accepts non-RFC-compliant chunk sizes such as leading whitespace or plus signs, causing a parsing differential with RFC-compliant proxies. No active exploitation or public exploit code has been reported, but the issue poses a moderate risk in specific deployment scenarios.
RemediationAI
The primary remediation path is to apply Red Hat errata packages for the affected RHEL release as published at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-66338, tracked via Bugzilla entry 2506950. No exact patched version number is confirmed from the available intelligence; administrators should monitor the Red Hat advisory directly for errata availability specific to their RHEL major version. As a compensating control where patching is not immediately possible, configuring the frontend proxy to normalize or reject malformed chunk-size fields - for example, blocking headers with leading whitespace, plus-sign prefixes, or trailing non-numeric characters before forwarding - eliminates the parsing differential that enables smuggling. Note that aggressive normalization rules may reject non-standard but benign clients; test in a staging environment before enforcing in production. If the application does not require chunked transfer encoding, disabling TE: chunked at the proxy layer entirely (by buffering requests fully before forwarding) is a high-confidence workaround with minimal client compatibility risk. Removing the strict frontend proxy from the architecture, if operationally feasible, also eliminates the attack surface entirely since direct access to libsoup removes the differential.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
libsoup is GNOME's HTTP client/server library (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:gnome:libsoup:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*), broadly used in Linux desktop applications, GNOME-stack services, and server components on RHEL 6.0-10.0. The root cause (CWE-444, HTTP Request/Response Smuggling) is a permissive chunk-size parsing function that silently accepts inputs violating RFC 9112: chunk sizes prefixed with leading whitespace, a plus sign, or followed by trailing non-numeric characters. When a strict reverse proxy enforces well-formed chunked encoding and forwards requests to a libsoup backend, the two components disagree on where HTTP message bodies end. This desynchronization of parser state allows an attacker to craft a single request that the proxy treats as one message but libsoup interprets as two - the second being an attacker-controlled, smuggled request injected into the backend pipeline.
Know when Libsoup gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
Sources disagree (Low–High)AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
AC:H assigned independently because exploitation requires a non-default proxy-backend topology; all other metrics preserved from the provided vector as technically justified.
vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionNVD
A flaw was found in libsoup. The chunked transfer encoding parser uses a permissive parsing function for chunk sizes that silently accepts inputs violating RFC 9112, including leading whitespace, plus sign prefixes, and trailing invalid characters. When libsoup operates behind a strict frontend proxy, this parsing differential can be exploited to smuggle HTTP requests.
Executive ViewAI
libsoup, the HTTP client/server library used across Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0-10.0, contains a high-severity HTTP request smuggling vulnerability (CVE-2026-66338) that allows network-accessible attackers to inject hidden requests into backend streams. No public exploit has been identified at time of analysis, but the vulnerability affects all libsoup versions and could enable bypass of security controls in organizations using affected RHEL systems. Leadership must prioritize mitigation planning given the absence of a vendor patch and the potential impact on backend application security.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Deploy interim mitigations: enforce strict RFC 9112 HTTP parsing compliance on frontend proxies, implement WAF rules targeting anomalous chunked transfer encoding, restrict network access to libsoup-based services where feasible, enable comprehensive HTTP request inspection and logging, and maintain vendor communication channels to prioritize rapid deployment upon patch availability.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
HTTP request smuggling exploits inconsistencies in how front-end and back-end servers parse HTTP message boundaries.
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
libsoup from versions 2.65.1 until 2.68.1 have a heap-based buffer over-read because soup_ntlm_parse_challenge() in soup
GNOME libsoup before 3.6.0 allows HTTP request smuggling in some configurations because '\0' characters at the end of he
A flaw was found in libsoup. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authenticati
GNOME libsoup before 3.6.1 allows a buffer overflow in applications that perform conversion to UTF-8 in soup_header_pars
A heap buffer overflow exists in libsoup's WebSocket permessage-deflate compression path: when a very large outbound mes
HTTP header injection in libsoup through CRLF sequences in the Content-Disposition header allows unauthenticated remote
libsoup's improper handling of URL-decoded input in HTTP proxy configurations allows remote attackers to inject CRLF seq
The get_cookies function in soup-cookie-jar.c in libsoup 2.63.2 allows attackers to have unspecified impact via an empty
Heap memory corruption in libsoup can be triggered when a WebSocket client using libsoup constructs a masked outgoing fr
Heap out-of-bounds read in libsoup's WebSocket implementation allows a remote, unauthenticated peer to trigger a heap bu
Heap corruption and denial of service in libsoup stem from unbounded WebSocket message reassembly: the code accumulates
A type-confusion memory-safety flaw in libsoup's WebSocket handling can crash or corrupt the heap of applications that p
Same weakness CWE-444 – HTTP Request/Response Smuggling
View allSame technique Information Disclosure
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Important| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS Extended Security | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 6 | Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7 | Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 12 SP2-CLIENT | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.2 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.2 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.2 | Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 7 | Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 8 | Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 9 | Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 | Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.3 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.2 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.3 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.4 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 | Affected |
EUVD-2026-48752
GHSA-8wm8-3499-x4v9
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB