CVE-2025-52887

Description

A denial-of-service vulnerability, stemming from memory exhaustion, has been identified in the cpp-httplib C++ HTTP/HTTPS library. This flaw is a result of the library's insufficient limits on the processing of HTTP headers. A remote attacker could exploit this by sending specially crafted HTTP requests with overly large or numerous headers, causing excessive memory consumption and ultimately leading to a program crash. This impacts the availability and stability of applications using cpp-httplib.

Statement

On Red Hat systems, any memory exhaustion will lead to the host operating system killing the offending program. The host system will continue operation.

Mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

CWE-400

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

If an attacker can trigger the allocation of the limited resources, but the number or size of the resources is not controlled, then the most common result is denial of service. This would prevent valid users from accessing the product, and it could potentially have an impact on the surrounding environment, i.e., the product may slow down, crash due to unhandled errors, or lock out legitimate users. For example, a memory exhaustion attack against an application could slow down the application as well as its host operating system.

Access Control,Other

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other

In some cases it may be possible to force the product to "fail open" in the event of resource exhaustion. The state of the product -- and possibly the security functionality - may then be compromised.

Frequently Asked Questions

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