{
  "schema_version": "1.5.0",
  "id": "CURL-CVE-2023-23916",
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2023-23916"
  ],
  "summary": "HTTP multi-header compression denial of service",
  "modified": "2026-05-19T11:21:50.00Z",
  "database_specific": {
    "package": "curl",
    "affects": "both",
    "URL": "https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2023-23916.json",
    "www": "https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2023-23916.html",
    "issue": "https://hackerone.com/reports/1826048",
    "CWE": {
      "id": "CWE-770",
      "desc": "Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling"
    },
    "award": {
      "amount": "2400",
      "currency": "USD"
    },
    "last_affected": "7.87.0",
    "severity": "Medium"
  },
  "published": "2023-02-15T08:00:00.00Z",
  "affected": [
    {
      "ranges": [
        {
           "type": "SEMVER",
           "events": [
             {"introduced": "7.57.0"},
             {"fixed": "7.88.0"}
           ]
        },
        {
           "type": "GIT",
           "repo": "https://github.com/curl/curl.git",
           "events": [
             {"introduced": "dbcced8e32b50c068ac297106f0502ee200a1ebd"},
             {"fixed": "119fb187192a9ea13dc90d9d20c215fc82799ab9"}
           ]
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "7.87.0", "7.86.0", "7.85.0", "7.84.0", "7.83.1", "7.83.0", "7.82.0", 
        "7.81.0", "7.80.0", "7.79.1", "7.79.0", "7.78.0", "7.77.0", "7.76.1", 
        "7.76.0", "7.75.0", "7.74.0", "7.73.0", "7.72.0", "7.71.1", "7.71.0", 
        "7.70.0", "7.69.1", "7.69.0", "7.68.0", "7.67.0", "7.66.0", "7.65.3", 
        "7.65.2", "7.65.1", "7.65.0", "7.64.1", "7.64.0", "7.63.0", "7.62.0", 
        "7.61.1", "7.61.0", "7.60.0", "7.59.0", "7.58.0", "7.57.0"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "credits": [
    {
      "name": "Patrick Monnerat",
      "type": "FINDER"
    },
    {
      "name": "Patrick Monnerat",
      "type": "REMEDIATION_DEVELOPER"
    }
  ],
  "details": "curl supports \"chained\" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning that a server\nresponse can be compressed multiple times and potentially with different\nalgorithms. The number of acceptable \"links\" in this \"decompression chain\" was\ncapped, but the cap was implemented on a per-header basis allowing a malicious\nserver to insert a virtually unlimited number of compression steps by using\nmany headers.\n\nThe use of such a decompression chain could result in a \"malloc bomb\", making\ncurl end up spending enormous amounts of allocated heap memory, or trying to\nand returning out of memory errors."
}