CVE-2020-26281
request smuggling in async-h1
async-h1 is an asynchronous HTTP/1.1 parser for Rust (crates.io). There is a request smuggling vulnerability in async-h1 before version 2.3.0. This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications. If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body. One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request. Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary. This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
6.8
request smuggling in async-h1
async-h1 is an asynchronous HTTP/1.1 parser for Rust (crates.io). There is a request smuggling vulnerability in async-h1 before version 2.3.0. This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications. If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body. One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request. Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary. This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
- Record
CVE-2020-26281- CVSS 3.1
- 6.8 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-444
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-2157
6.8
async-h1 is an asynchronous HTTP/1.1 parser for Rust (crates.io). There is a request smuggling vulnerability in async-h1 before version 2.3.0. This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications. If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body. One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request. Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary. This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
- Record
EUVD-2021-2157- CVSS 3.1
- 6.8 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-4vr9-8cjf-vf9c
6.8
Async-h1 request smuggling possible with long unread bodies
Impact
This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications.
If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body.
One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request.
Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary.
Patches
This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
Workarounds
none
References
https://github.com/http-rs/async-h1/releases/tag/v2.3.0
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Record
GHSA-4vr9-8cjf-vf9c- CVSS 3.1
- 6.8 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-444
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
6.8
async-h1 is an asynchronous HTTP/1.1 parser for Rust (crates.io). There is a request smuggling vulnerability in async-h1 before version 2.3.0. This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications. If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body. One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request. Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary. This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
- Record
CVE-2020-26281- CVSS 3.1
- 6.8 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 5.8 Medium
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-444
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.5
async-h1 is an asynchronous HTTP/1.1 parser for Rust (crates.io). There is a request smuggling vulnerability in async-h1 before version 2.3.0. This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications. If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body. One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request. Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary. This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
- Record
CVE-2020-26281- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVCVE-2020-36202
6.1
An issue was discovered in the async-h1 crate before 2.3.0 for Rust. Request smuggling can occur when used behind a reverse proxy.
- Record
CVE-2020-36202- CVSS 3.1
- 6.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-4vr9-8cjf-vf9c
6.8
Async-h1 request smuggling possible with long unread bodies
Impact
This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications.
If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body.
One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request.
Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary.
Patches
This has been addressed in async-h1 2.3.0 and previous versions have been yanked.
Workarounds
none
References
https://github.com/http-rs/async-h1/releases/tag/v2.3.0
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Record
GHSA-4vr9-8cjf-vf9c- CVSS 3.1
- 6.8 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-444
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-c8rq-crxj-mj9m
6.1
Async-h1 request smuggling possible with long unread bodies
An issue was discovered in the async-h1 crate before 2.3.0 for Rust. Request smuggling can occur when used behind a reverse proxy.
- Record
GHSA-c8rq-crxj-mj9m- CVSS 3.1
- 6.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVRUSTSEC-2020-0093 No score
Async-h1 request smuggling possible with long unread bodies
This vulnerability affects any webserver that uses async-h1 behind a reverse proxy, including all such Tide applications.
If the server does not read the body of a request which is longer than some buffer length, async-h1 will attempt to read a subsequent request from the body content starting at that offset into the body.
One way to exploit this vulnerability would be for an adversary to craft a request such that the body contains a request that would not be noticed by a reverse proxy, allowing it to forge forwarded/x-forwarded headers. If an application trusted the authenticity of these headers, it could be misled by the smuggled request.
Another potential concern with this vulnerability is that if a reverse proxy is sending multiple http clients' requests along the same keep-alive connection, it would be possible for the smuggled request to specify a long content and capture another user's request in its body. This content could be captured in a post request to an endpoint that allows the content to be subsequently retrieved by the adversary.
The flaw was corrected in commit 7df79f by ensuring that the request body is always consumed from the tcp stream before attempting to read subsequent keep-alive request headers from it.
- Record
RUSTSEC-2020-0093- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-26281 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.8) in Http-rs Async-h1, published December 17, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.02%, the 63rd percentile. Fixed in async-h1 2.3.0.
References
github.com/http-rs/async-h1/security/advisories/GHSA-4vr9-8cjf-vf9c
github.com/http-rs/async-h1/releases/tag/v2.3.0
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-26281
rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2020-0093.html
github.com/advisories/GHSA-4vr9-8cjf-vf9c
github.com/http-rs/async-h1
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36202
crates.io/crates/async-h1