GHSA-cp4q-fqw9-4hf6
Http4s Ember HTTP/2: unbounded continuation frame accumulation
Quick fix
GHSA-cp4q-fqw9-4hf6 — org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_2.12: upgrade to the fixed version with the command below.
# pom.xml: bump <version>0.23.35</version> for org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_2.12Details
When Ember receives an HTTP/2 `HEADERS` or `PUSH_PROMISE` frame without the `END_HEADERS` flag, it buffers the header block fragment and waits for subsequent `CONTINUATION` frames. These accumulate unbounded until the connection closes.
### Impact
A remote, unauthenticated peer can exhaust the heap on any Ember endpoint that has HTTP/2 enabled:
- **ember-server with `.withHttp2`**: any HTTP/2 client can trigger this against any reachable path (including paths that return 404). No authentication is required because the attack completes before the request is decoded. - **ember-client with `.withHttp2`**: a malicious or compromised origin server can trigger this via the response header block. A single in-flight request is sufficient.
Memory consumption is bounded only by the attacker's upload bandwidth and the connection lifetime.
### Prerequisites
- `EmberServerBuilder` configured with `.withHttp2`. - For the server: the attacker can establish an HTTP/2 connection - For the client: the application makes a request to an attacker-controlled origin. HTTP/2 incoming headers exceeding the configured size limit are buffer in order to generate an informative HTTP 413 response. If a client does not stop sending headers, this leads to memory exhaustion.
### Patches
The fix bounds the accumulated header-block size at `SETTINGS_MAX_HEADER_LIST_SIZE` (derived from `EmberServerBuilder.maxHeaderSize` / `EmberClientBuilder.maxResponseHeaderSize`). When a `CONTINUATION` frame would push the accumulated block over that limit, the connection is terminated with `GOAWAY`. The `receiveHeadersTimeout` additionally bounds how long an incomplete header block may remain open.
### Workarounds
- Disable HTTP/2 (`.withHttp2`) until upgraded (default). It is off by default. - If HTTP/2 must remain enabled, place ember behind a reverse proxy that terminates HTTP/2 and speaks HTTP/1.1 to ember.
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Affected packages
0Fixed in: 0.23.35# pom.xml: bump <version>0.23.35</version> for org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_2.120Fixed in: 0.23.35# pom.xml: bump <version>0.23.35</version> for org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_2.130Fixed in: 0.23.35# pom.xml: bump <version>0.23.35</version> for org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_31.0.0-M1Fixed in: 1.0.0-M47# pom.xml: bump <version>1.0.0-M47</version> for org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_2.131.0.0-M1Fixed in: 1.0.0-M47# pom.xml: bump <version>1.0.0-M47</version> for org.http4s:http4s-ember-core_3References
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s/security/advisories/GHSA-cp4q-fqw9-4hf6[WEB]
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s/commit/6e8eccd64a6a74ab4811897881e95e0e1b3a818e[WEB]
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s[PACKAGE]
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s/releases/tag/v0.23.35[WEB]
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s/releases/tag/v1.0.0-M47[WEB]