2026-06-08 16:34CVE-2026-43966EEF
PUBLISHED5.2ApplicationCWE-113

HTTP Response Splitting via Non-VCHAR Bytes in cow_http_struct_hd:escape_string/2

Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers ('HTTP Request/Response Splitting') vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows HTTP response splitting via non-VCHAR bytes in structured-fields string values.

cow_http_struct_hd:escape_string/2 in cowlib only escapes \ and ", passing all other bytes through verbatim. This creates an encoder/decoder asymmetry: the matching parser accepts only printable ASCII (0x20–0x7E, excluding " and \), but the encoder emits any byte including CR and LF. An application that builds a structured HTTP header via cow_http_struct_hd:item/1 (or a higher-level wrapper such as cow_http_hd:wt_protocol/1) from attacker-controlled input can have \r\n injected into the serialized header value. Once on the wire, the injected CRLF terminates the current header and any following bytes are interpreted as a new header, enabling HTTP response splitting.

This issue affects cowlib from 2.9.0.

Problem type

Affected products

ninenines

cowlib

2.9.0 - AFFECTED

cowlib

a8b793db3d6ffe91d62f81baf41b1dab4cd78fb6 - AFFECTED

References

GitHub Security Advisories

GHSA-w4f7-4cxr-rv3c

Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers ('HTTP Request/Response Splitting')...

https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-w4f7-4cxr-rv3c

Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers ('HTTP Request/Response Splitting') vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows HTTP response splitting via non-VCHAR bytes in structured-fields string values.

cow_http_struct_hd:escape_string/2 in cowlib only escapes \ and ", passing all other bytes through verbatim. This creates an encoder/decoder asymmetry: the matching parser accepts only printable ASCII (0x20–0x7E, excluding " and ), but the encoder emits any byte including CR and LF. An application that builds a structured HTTP header via cow_http_struct_hd:item/1 (or a higher-level wrapper such as cow_http_hd:wt_protocol/1) from attacker-controlled input can have \r\n injected into the serialized header value. Once on the wire, the injected CRLF terminates the current header and any following bytes are interpreted as a new header, enabling HTTP response splitting.

This issue affects cowlib from 2.9.0.

JSON source

https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-43966
Click to expand
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