hpack is an HTTP/2 Header Encoding for Python. Prior to version 4.2.0, unbounded variable integer decoding can cause run-away computation on malformed input leading to O(n^2) runtime, effectively blocking further processing with large enough unsanitized input. A fix is available in python-hyper/hpack v4.2.0 to restricted variable integer decoding to uint32 to prevent run-away computation. As a workaround, sanitize input to hpack decoder for long sequences of `0xFF` values to prevent malicious use.
https://github.com/python-hyper/hpack/security/advisories/GHSA-8v8h-hg4w-mvq2
https://github.com/python-hyper/hpack/commit/8cfb02c547740e16dbfe7aba77bad84b297cec2c
https://docs.rs/http2/0.5.19/src/http2/hpack/decoder.rs.html#403
Published: 2026-09-23
Updated: 2026-09-24
Base Score: 5
Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Severity: Medium
Base Score: 7.5
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity: High
Base Score: 6.3
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Severity: Medium
EPSS: 0.00301