CVE-2026-34230 MEDIUM

CVE-2026-34230: Rack: Quadratic complexity in Rack::Utils.select_best_encoding via wildcard Accept-Encoding header

Vendor Rack
Product rack
Weakness CWE-400
Published April 2, 2026
Last update April 3, 2026

CVSS base score

5.3/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality None
Integrity None

CVSS vector

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

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Rack is a modular Ruby web server interface. Prior to versions 2.2.23, 3.1.21, and 3.2.6, Rack::Utils.select_best_encoding processes Accept-Encoding values with quadratic time complexity when the header contains many wildcard (*) entries. Because this method is used by Rack::Deflater to choose a response encoding, an unauthenticated attacker can send a single request with a crafted Accept-Encoding header and cause disproportionate CPU consumption on the compression middleware path. This results in a denial of service condition for applications using Rack::Deflater. This issue has been patched in versions 2.2.23, 3.1.21, and 3.2.6.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

April 2, 2026 CVE published
April 3, 2026 Record updated