CVE-2026-7790
Description
A flaw was found in ninenines cowlib, specifically within the cow_http_te module's chunked transfer-encoding parser. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this by sending an HTTP/1.1 request containing a Transfer-Encoding: chunked header with an excessively long hexadecimal string in the chunk-size field. This vulnerability, categorized as uncontrolled resource consumption, can lead to significant CPU exhaustion and memory amplification, ultimately causing a denial of service (DoS) on the affected system.
Statement
Red Hat Product Security has determined that this vulnerability does not affect any currently supported Red Hat product. This assessment may evolve based on further analysis and discovery. For more information about this vulnerability and the products it affects, please see the linked references.
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)
Other,Integrity,Availability
Technical Impact: Varies by Context; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); Modify Memory; Read Memory
When the quantity is not properly validated, then attackers can specify malicious quantities to cause excessive resource allocation, trigger unexpected failures, enable buffer overflows, etc.
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