Request smuggling via conflicting message-length headers
Published May 3, 2026 · Updated May 3, 2026
HTTP request smuggling in Kazuho Oku Starlet 0 through 0.31 allows remote attackers to inject requests through a reverse proxy. Starlet::Server::handle_connection consumes Content-Length instead of rejecting a request that also carries Transfer-Encoding: chunked, causing the proxy and back end to disagree about request boundaries. The server must be deployed behind a front-end reverse proxy that parses the ambiguous message differently; the resulting desynchronization lets a smuggled request bypass the proxy's request boundary.
Summary
What happened
HTTP request smuggling in Kazuho Oku Starlet 0 through 0.31 allows remote attackers to inject requests through a reverse proxy. Starlet::Server::handle_connection consumes Content-Length instead of rejecting a request that also carries Transfer-Encoding: chunked, causing the proxy and back end to disagree about request boundaries. The server must be deployed behind a front-end reverse proxy that parses the ambiguous message differently; the resulting desynchronization lets a smuggled request bypass the proxy's request boundary.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-40561
- Published
- May 3, 2026
- Updated
- May 3, 2026
- Vendor
- Kazuho Oku
- Product
- Starlet
- Classifications
- CWE-444, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 3, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 3, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=0.31
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Upstream HTTP smuggling regression testproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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