Netty HttpObjectDecoder skips control chars pre-4.2.15, boundary confusion
CVE-2026-50020 Published on June 12, 2026

Netty's HttpObjectDecoder skips arbitrary initial control characters when only initial CRLF characters are permitted
Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. Prior to versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, before reading the first request-line, `HttpObjectDecoder` skips every byte for which `Character.isISOControl(b)` is `true` (0x000x1F and 0x7F) as well as all whitespace. RFC 9112 §2.2 only asks servers to ignore empty CRLF lines preceding the request-line a carefully scoped robustness allowance intended to handle HTTP/1.0 POST workarounds. Silently absorbing NUL bytes, SOH, STX, and other non-CRLF control characters goes significantly beyond this, and can be exploited for request-boundary confusion in pipelined or multiplexed transports where a front-end component treats those bytes differently. Versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final patch the issue.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-50020 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. An automatable proof of concept (POC) exploit exists. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality, with no impact on integrity, and no impact on availability.

Attack Vector:
NETWORK
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
NONE
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
NONE
Integrity Impact:
LOW
Availability Impact:
NONE

Weakness Type

What is a HTTP Request Smuggling Vulnerability?

When malformed or abnormal HTTP requests are interpreted by one or more entities in the data flow between the user and the web server, such as a proxy or firewall, they can be interpreted inconsistently, allowing the attacker to "smuggle" a request to one device without the other device being aware of it.

CVE-2026-50020 has been classified to as a HTTP Request Smuggling vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-50020

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Netty
 

Affected Versions

netty: