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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Reach front-end proxy fronting Netty backend
  2. Delivery
    Craft chunk-size token with post-digit whitespace
  3. Exploit
    Desync proxy/backend request parsing
  4. Execution
    Smuggle hidden HTTP request
  5. Impact
    Bypass controls or reach unauthorized resources

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 the Netty-based service to process HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer-encoding and, for meaningful smuggling impact, to sit behind or in front of another HTTP intermediary (proxy/load balancer/backend) that parses the chunk-size token differently. The trigger is a crafted chunk-size token containing whitespace after the hex digits. No authentication or user interaction is needed (PR:N/UI:N), and default configurations of affected products are reachable. What limits real impact: the flaw is only exploitable to a useful degree in multi-tier proxy/backend topologies where a parsing discrepancy exists; a standalone Netty endpoint with no differing upstream/downstream parser yields little smuggling advantage.

Impact

This is a genuine but moderate-priority issue. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L, base 6.5) correctly reflects HTTP request smuggling: remotely and unauthenticated exploitable with low complexity, but with limited confidentiality/integrity/availability impact rather than direct code execution. The signals are internally consistent - network vector matches the 'remote attacker sending a crafted HTTP/1.1 chunk-size token' description, and PR:N matches an unauthenticated proxy/backend attack. No EPSS score, CISA KEV listing, or public POC was provided in the input, so per the precision rules this is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' Real-world risk is elevated by the affected component: Netty's netty-codec-http is embedded in a very large number of Java services (the Red Hat CPE list alone spans Keycloak, Quarkus, Data Grid, AMQ, Camel, Debezium, Fuse, Apicurio, JBoss EAP). However, smuggling only becomes impactful in specific proxy/backend chain topologies, so this is a real-but-conditional issue rather than a critical drop-everything flaw. Note: the input 'Authentication Bypass' tag overstates the flaw - the CWE-444 request smuggling can facilitate control bypass but is not itself an authentication bypass.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker sends an HTTP/1.1 request with a chunk-size token containing trailing (post-digit) whitespace to a front-end proxy that forwards to a Netty-based backend. The proxy and Netty disagree on where the chunk (and thus the request boundary) ends, letting the attacker smuggle a second request to bypass front-end security controls or reach unauthorized resources. No public exploit code was identified in the provided data.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.4% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 18, 2026

HTTP request smuggling in Netty's netty-codec-http component lets unauthenticated remote attackers bypass front-end security controls by sending a crafted HTTP/1.1 chunk-size token containing whitespace after the hexadecimal digits, which Netty parses differently from other HTTP intermediaries. The flaw carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L), meaning no authentication or user interaction is required, but integrity and availability impact is limited; meaningful exploitation generally depends on a multi-tier topology where a proxy, load balancer, or backend parses the chunk-size token inconsistently with Netty. Red Hat ships the affected library across a broad portfolio - including AMQ Broker 7, AMQ Clients, Quarkus, Keycloak and Red Hat Single Sign-On 7, JBoss EAP 7/8, Fuse 7, Data Grid 8, Camel for Spring Boot 4, Camel 4 for Quarkus 3, Apicurio Registry 3 and Debezium 3 - and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, with no confirmed active exploitation (CISA KEV).

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patch version is identified in the available data for this CVE - the referenced Red Hat advisory (https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-93574) and tracking bug (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2536966) should be monitored for the fixed Netty build and the updated product errata for AMQ Broker 7, AMQ Clients, Quarkus, Keycloak/RH-SSO 7, JBoss EAP 7/8, Fuse 7, Data Grid 8, Camel for Spring Boot 4, Camel 4 for Quarkus 3, Apicurio Registry 3 and Debezium 3; until a patched release is available, apply compensating controls. The most effective mitigation is to eliminate the parser discrepancy at the trust boundary: front every Netty-based service with a reverse proxy or load balancer configured for strict RFC 7230 chunk-size validation that rejects chunk-size tokens containing whitespace or any non-hex characters after the digits, and ensure the front-end and back-end both normalize chunked framing identically - the trade-off is that overly strict normalization can break legitimate clients that send non-canonical chunked encoding, so test against real traffic. Where the deployment supports it, terminate HTTP/1.1 at the edge and use HTTP/2 (or the same trusted intermediary) end-to-end, since request smuggling via this parsing quirk does not carry over to HTTP/2 framing. Disabling chunked transfer encoding or request streaming on exposed listeners removes the attack surface entirely but breaks large uploads and streaming APIs, and should be limited to high-risk paths. As a detective control, enable strict request-framing and desynchronization logging on the proxy and backend and alert on repeated 400/501 responses or mismatched content-length/chunk framing that can indicate an active smuggling attempt. Finally, because this is CWE-444, reassess any architecture in which a Netty endpoint sits behind a different HTTP stack, since that topology is the prerequisite for meaningful impact.

Affects your stack

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Technical ContextAI · show details

The affected technology is Netty's netty-codec-http HTTP/1.1 codec, a widely embedded Java networking library that implements chunked transfer encoding parsing for HTTP request and response bodies. The root cause class is CWE-444 (Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests, i.e. HTTP request smuggling): Netty accepts a chunk-size token that contains whitespace after the hex digits (for example a chunk-size line with trailing spaces or other non-digit characters), so the number of bytes it treats as the chunk body differs from the count a stricter or differently implemented parser derives from the same byte stream. Because the two parsers disagree on where one request ends and the next begins, an attacker can desynchronize the connection and have a smuggled prefix or suffix request interpreted by a downstream server as a separate, attacker-controlled request. The CVSS vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U confirms a network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated attack that changes no scope, but with C:N/I:L/A:L - the primary consequence is bypass of intermediary security controls and access to resources the front end intended to shield, rather than full confidentiality loss or remote code execution. The CPE data shows the vulnerability is not a product-specific defect but a supply-chain issue: every Red Hat product listed (AMQ Broker 7, AMQ Clients, Red Hat Build of Apache Camel 4 for Quarkus 3, Camel for Spring Boot 4, Apicurio Registry 3, Debezium 3, Keycloak, Quarkus, Data Grid 8, Fuse 7, JBoss EAP 7/8 and RH-SSO 7) bundles the vulnerable Netty codec and is therefore exposed wherever it terminates or forwards HTTP/1.1 chunked traffic.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (redhat) PRIMARY 6.5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
vuln.today AI 6.5 MEDIUM

Unauthenticated remote crafted request (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); request smuggling yields limited integrity impact and possible availability effects in proxy chains, no direct confidentiality disclosure.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE MEDIUM
Red Hat 6.5 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (redhat).

CVSS VectorVendor: redhat

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

DescriptionCVE.org

A flaw was found in Netty's netty-codec-http component. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted HTTP/1.1 chunk-size token that includes post-digit whitespace. This incorrect parsing of the chunk size can lead to HTTP request smuggling. This allows an attacker to bypass security controls or access unauthorized resources in proxy/backend deployments.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.4%
Top 70% exploitable
Prevalence
High
Netty HTTP codec underpins many widely-deployed Java servers and middleware
Social Media
1
Sightings
Data Quality
7 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor CIRCL VulDB

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.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.4%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
High
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

32
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +32
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

HTTP request smuggling exploits inconsistencies in how front-end and back-end servers parse HTTP message boundaries.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_amq_broker_7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_amq_clients:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_apache_camel_4_for_quarkus_3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_apache_camel_for_spring_boot_4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_apicurio_registry_3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_debezium_3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_keycloak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_build_of_quarkus:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_data_grid_8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_fuse_7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_jboss_enterprise_application_platform_7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_jboss_enterprise_application_platform_8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_single_sign-on_7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS Fixed

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