CVE-2020-5236
Catastrophic backtracking in regex allows Denial of Service in Waitress
Waitress version 1.4.2 allows a DOS attack When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters. When a header like "Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10" is received, it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions. This allows an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline. This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230. The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Catastrophic backtracking in regex allows Denial of Service in Waitress
Waitress version 1.4.2 allows a DOS attack When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters. When a header like "Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10" is received, it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions. This allows an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline. This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230. The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
- Record
CVE-2020-5236- CVSS 3.1
- 5.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0238
Waitress version 1.4.2 allows a DOS attack When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters. When a header like "Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10" is received, it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions. This allows an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline. This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230. The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
- Record
EUVD-2020-0238- CVSS 3.1
- 5.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-73m2-3pwg-5fgc
Catastrophic backtracking in regex allows Denial of Service in Waitress
Impact
When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions.
This would allow an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline.
Invalid header example:
Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10
Increasing the number of x's in the header will increase the amount of time Waitress spends in the regular expression engine.
This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230.
Patches
The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
Workarounds
If you have deployed a reverse proxy in front of Waitress it may already be rejecting requests that include invalid headers.
Thanks
The Pylons Project would like to thank Fil Zembowicz for reaching out and disclosing this vulnerability!
References
Catastrophic backtracking explained: https://www.regular-expressions.info/catastrophic.html
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- open an issue at https://github.com/Pylons/waitress/issues (if not sensitive or security related)
- email the Pylons Security mailing list: [email protected] (if security related)
- Record
GHSA-73m2-3pwg-5fgc- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 5.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
Waitress version 1.4.2 allows a DOS attack When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters. When a header like "Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10" is received, it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions. This allows an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline. This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230. The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
- Record
CVE-2020-5236- CVSS 3.1
- 5.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 6.8 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
Waitress version 1.4.2 allows a DOS attack When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters. When a header like "Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10" is received, it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions. This allows an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline. This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230. The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
- Record
CVE-2020-5236- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-73m2-3pwg-5fgc
Catastrophic backtracking in regex allows Denial of Service in Waitress
Impact
When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions.
This would allow an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline.
Invalid header example:
Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10
Increasing the number of x's in the header will increase the amount of time Waitress spends in the regular expression engine.
This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230.
Patches
The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
Workarounds
If you have deployed a reverse proxy in front of Waitress it may already be rejecting requests that include invalid headers.
Thanks
The Pylons Project would like to thank Fil Zembowicz for reaching out and disclosing this vulnerability!
References
Catastrophic backtracking explained: https://www.regular-expressions.info/catastrophic.html
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- open an issue at https://github.com/Pylons/waitress/issues (if not sensitive or security related)
- email the Pylons Security mailing list: [email protected] (if security related)
- Record
GHSA-73m2-3pwg-5fgc- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 5.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2020-155 No score
Waitress version 1.4.2 allows a DOS attack When waitress receives a header that contains invalid characters. When a header like "Bad-header: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\x10" is received, it will cause the regular expression engine to catastrophically backtrack causing the process to use 100% CPU time and blocking any other interactions. This allows an attacker to send a single request with an invalid header and take the service offline. This issue was introduced in version 1.4.2 when the regular expression was updated to attempt to match the behaviour required by errata associated with RFC7230. The regular expression that is used to validate incoming headers has been updated in version 1.4.3, it is recommended that people upgrade to the new version of Waitress as soon as possible.
- Record
PYSEC-2020-155- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
waitressPyPI |
1.4.2 to 1.4.2 | 1.4.3 |
waitressPyPI |
1.4.2 up to 1.4.3 | 1.4.3 |
waitressPyPI |
before 1.4.3, plus listed versions 0.10.20.30.40.5 Show 35 moreShow less0.60.6.10.70.80.8.10.8.20.8.30.8.40.8.50.8.60.8.70.8.80.8.90.8.100.8.11b00.9.0b00.9.0b10.9.01.0a11.0a21.0.01.0.11.0.21.1.01.2.0b11.2.0b21.2.0b31.2.01.2.11.3.0b01.3.01.3.11.4.01.4.11.4.2 |
1.4.3 |
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PoC in GitHub | motikan2010/CVE-2020-5236 | 2020-02-06 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV, PoC in GitHub |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-5236 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.7) in Agendaless Waitress, published February 4, 2020. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 2.36%, the 83rd percentile. Fixed in waitress 1.4.3.
References
github.com/Pylons/waitress/security/advisories/GHSA-73m2-3pwg-5fgc
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5236