CVE-2026-50020: netty Request Smuggling — Fix

Description

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` (0x00–0x1F 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.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.3

MEDIUM

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

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0023

Probability of exploitation

0.14%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-444 CWE-444

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
netty	netty	< 4.1.135
netty	netty	4.2.0 — 4.2.15

References

Advisories & Patches

https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c

Other References

https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.135.Final https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.15.Final

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-50020? +

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` (0x00–0x1F 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. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-50020? +

CVE-2026-50020 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.3 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0023, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

What products are affected by CVE-2026-50020? +

CVE-2026-50020 affects products from netty, specifically: netty. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-50020? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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