CVE-2019-16785 HIGH

CVE-2019-16785: HTTP Request Smuggling: LF vs CRLF handling in Waitress

Vendor Pylons
Product Waitress
Weakness CWE-444
Published December 20, 2019
Last update August 5, 2024

CVSS base score

7.1/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity High
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Waitress through version 1.3.1 implemented a "MAY" part of the RFC7230 which states: "Although the line terminator for the start-line and header fields is the sequence CRLF, a recipient MAY recognize a single LF as a line terminator and ignore any preceding CR." Unfortunately if a front-end server does not parse header fields with an LF the same way as it does those with a CRLF it can lead to the front-end and the back-end server parsing the same HTTP message in two different ways. This can lead to a potential for HTTP request smuggling/splitting whereby Waitress may see two requests while the front-end server only sees a single HTTP message. This issue is fixed in Waitress 1.4.0.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

December 20, 2019 CVE published
August 5, 2024 Record updated