CVE-2026-31842 PUBLISHED

Tinyproxy HTTP request parsing desynchronization via case-sensitive Transfer-Encoding handling

Assigner: TuranSec
Reserved: 09.03.2026 Published: 07.04.2026 Updated: 07.04.2026

Tinyproxy through 1.11.3 is vulnerable to HTTP request parsing desynchronization due to a case-sensitive comparison of the Transfer-Encoding header in src/reqs.c. The is_chunked_transfer() function uses strcmp() to compare the header value against "chunked", even though RFC 7230 specifies that transfer-coding names are case-insensitive. By sending a request with Transfer-Encoding: Chunked, an unauthenticated remote attacker can cause Tinyproxy to misinterpret the request as having no body. In this state, Tinyproxy sets content_length.client to -1, skips pull_client_data_chunked(), forwards request headers upstream, and transitions into relay_connection() raw TCP forwarding while unread body data remains buffered. This leads to inconsistent request state between Tinyproxy and backend servers. RFC-compliant backends (e.g., Node.js, Nginx) will continue waiting for chunked body data, causing connections to hang indefinitely. This behavior enables application-level denial of service through backend worker exhaustion. Additionally, in deployments where Tinyproxy is used for request-body inspection, filtering, or security enforcement, the unread body may be forwarded without proper inspection, resulting in potential security control bypass.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS Score: 8.7

Product Status

Vendor Tinyproxy Project
Product Tinyproxy
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 0 to 1.11.3 (incl.)

Credits

  • Muxammadiyev G'iyosiddin finder

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-444 Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling') CWE

Impacts

  • An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger HTTP request parsing desynchronization using a mixed-case Transfer-Encoding header (e.g., 'Chunked'), leading to backend connection hangs and denial of service. In certain deployments, request-body inspection and filtering mechanisms relying on Tinyproxy may also be bypassed.