CVE-2021-21299: Hyper HTTP Request Smuggling Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-6hfq-h8hq-87mf
CVSS 4.8
CWE-444
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-21299 is a MODERATE (CVSS 4.8) http request smuggling vulnerability (CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')) affecting Hyper libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves http request smuggling in hyper. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.14.3, 0.13.10, 0.12.36.

CVE-2021-21299 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-21299
GHSA Identifier GHSA-6hfq-h8hq-87mf
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 4.8
CWE Classification CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')
Affected Product Hyper
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 4.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality Low (C:L)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2021-21299

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Hyper dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

hyper fixed: 0.14.3
Upgrade hyper to 0.14.3
hyper fixed: 0.13.10
Upgrade hyper to 0.13.10
hyper fixed: 0.12.36
Upgrade hyper to 0.12.36
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for hyper

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2021-21299, inspect your project dependencies for Hyper:

inspect dependencies for hyper

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Hyper in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.14.3), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling'), where the product acts as an intermediary http agent (such as a proxy or firewall) in the data flow between two entities such as a client and server, but it does not interpret malformed http requests or responses in ways that are consistent with how the messages will be processed by those entities that are at the ultimate destination. In Hyper, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Summary hyper's HTTP server code had a flaw that incorrectly understands some requests with multiple transfer-encoding headers to have a chunked payload, when it should have been rejected as illegal. This combined with an upstream HTTP proxy that understands the request payload boundary differently can result in "request smuggling" or "desync attacks". ### Vulnerability The flaw was introduced in https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/commit/26417fc24a7d05df538e0f39239b373c5c3d61f6, released in v0.12.0. Consider this example request: ``` POST /yolo HTTP/1.1 Transfer-Encoding: chunked Transfer-Encoding: cow ``` This request *should* be rejected, according to RFC 7230, since it has a `Transfer-Encoding` header, but after folding, it does not end in `chunked`. hyper would notice the `chunked` in the first line, and then check the second line, and thanks to a missing boolean assignment, *not* set the error condition. hyper would treat the payload as being `chunked`. By differing from the spec, it is possible to send requests like these to endpoints that have different HTTP implementations, with different interpretations of the payload semantics, and cause "desync attacks". There are several parts of the spec that must also be checked, and hyper correctly handles all of those. Additionally, hyper's *client* does not allow sending requests with improper headers, so the misunderstanding cannot be propagated further. Read more about desync attacks: https://portswigger.net/research/http-desync-attacks-request-smuggling-reborn ### Impact To determine if vulnerable, all these things must be true: - **Using hyper as an HTTP *server*.** The client is not affected. - **Using HTTP/1.1.** HTTP/2 does not use `transfer-encoding`. - **Using a vulnerable HTTP proxy upstream to hyper.** If an upstream proxy correctly rejects the illegal transfer-encoding headers, the desync attack cannot succeed. If there is *no* proxy upstream of hyper, hyper cannot *start* the desync attack, as the client will repair the headers before forwarding. ### Patches We have released and backported the following patch versions: - v0.14.3 - v0.13.10 ### Workarounds Besides upgrading hyper, you can take the following options: - Reject requests that contain a `transfer-encoding` header. - Ensure any upstream proxy handles `transfer-encoding` correctly. ### Credits This issue was initially reported by ZeddYu Lu From Qi An Xin Technology Research Institute.

CVE-2021-21299 Affected Hyper Versions

3 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.14.30.13.100.12.36
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
hyper
crates.io
≥ 0.14.0
< 0.14.3
0.14.3
hyper
crates.io
≥ 0.13.0
< 0.13.10
0.13.10
hyper
crates.io
≥ 0.12.0
< 0.12.36
0.12.36

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-21299?
CVE-2021-21299 is a security vulnerability in Hyper involving HTTP Request Smuggling in hyper under CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling').
Which Hyper versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.14.3, 0.13.10, 0.12.36 across affected packages: hyper.
What version fixes CVE-2021-21299?
Upgrading to 0.14.3, 0.13.10, 0.12.36 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is hyper affected?
Yes, hyper is affected in releases prior to 0.14.3, 0.13.10, 0.12.36. Upgrade your dependency to 0.14.3, 0.13.10, 0.12.36 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-21299?
CVE-2021-21299 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.8 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2021-21299?
CVE-2021-21299 is classified under CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling') (The product acts as an intermediary HTTP agent (such as a proxy or firewall) in the data flow between two entities such as a client and server, but it does not interpret malformed HTTP requests or responses in ways that are consistent with how the messages will be processed by those entities that are at the ultimate destination.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2021-21299?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for hyper'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
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  "id" : "GHSA-6hfq-h8hq-87mf",
  "modified" : "2021-08-18T21:07:17Z",
  "published" : "2021-08-25T20:56:18Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-21299" ],
  "summary" : "HTTP Request Smuggling in hyper",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nhyper's HTTP server code had a flaw that incorrectly understands some requests with multiple transfer-encoding headers to have a chunked payload, when it should have been rejected as illegal. This combined with an upstream HTTP proxy that understands the request payload boundary differently can result in \"request smuggling\" or \"desync attacks\".\n\n### Vulnerability\n\nThe flaw was introduced in https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/commit/26417fc24a7d05df538e0f39239b373c5c3d61f6, released in v0.12.0.\n\nConsider this example request:\n\n```\nPOST /yolo HTTP/1.1\nTransfer-Encoding: chunked\nTransfer-Encoding: cow\n```\n\nThis request *should* be rejected, according to RFC 7230, since it has a `Transfer-Encoding` header, but after folding, it does not end in `chunked`. hyper would notice the `chunked` in the first line, and then check the second line, and thanks to a missing boolean assignment, *not* set the error condition. hyper would treat the payload as being `chunked`. By differing from the spec, it is possible to send requests like these to endpoints that have different HTTP implementations, with different interpretations of the payload semantics, and cause \"desync attacks\".\n\nThere are several parts of the spec that must also be checked, and hyper correctly handles all of those. Additionally, hyper's *client* does not allow sending requests with improper headers, so the misunderstanding cannot be propagated further.\n\nRead more about desync attacks: https://portswigger.net/research/http-desync-attacks-request-smuggling-reborn\n\n### Impact\n\nTo determine if vulnerable, all these things must be true:\n\n- **Using hyper as an HTTP *server*.** The client is not affected.\n- **Using HTTP/1.1.** HTTP/2 does not use `transfer-encoding`.\n- **Using a vulnerable HTTP proxy upstream to hyper.** If an upstream proxy correctly rejects the illegal transfer-encoding headers, the desync attack cannot succeed. If there is *no* proxy upstream of hyper, hyper cannot *start* the desync attack, as the client will repair the headers before forwarding.\n\n### Patches\n\nWe have released and backported the following patch versions:\n\n- v0.14.3\n- v0.13.10\n\n### Workarounds\n\nBesides upgrading hyper, you can take the following options:\n\n- Reject requests that contain a `transfer-encoding` header.\n- Ensure any upstream proxy handles `transfer-encoding` correctly.\n\n### Credits\n\nThis issue was initially reported by ZeddYu Lu From Qi An Xin Technology Research Institute.",
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