High severity · published Sep 14, 2026
CVE-2026-53659
http4k: Unbounded gzip decompression in `ServerFilters.GZip` / `RequestFilters.GunZip` allowed memory-exhaustion DoS
7.5
CVSS
0.6%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
http4k is a functional toolkit for Kotlin HTTP applications. Prior to 4.51.0.0, 5.42.0.0, and 6.49.0.0, ServerFilters.GZip, RequestFilters.GunZip, and the underlying Gzip request-body decompression functions impose no limit on decompressed size. An unauthenticated client can send a small gzip-encoded request body that expands to gigabytes, exhausting the JVM heap and denying service to other clients. The fix uses SizeLimitedInputStream to enforce a default 10 MiB limit, causes ServerFilters.GZip and RequestFilters.GunZip to return 413 Request Entity Too Large, and causes other decompression paths to throw SizeLimitExceededException. This issue is fixed in versions 4.51.0.0, 5.42.0.0, and 6.49.0.0.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.6% · higher than 50% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
HT
http4k · http4k
< 4.51.0.0; >= 5.0.0.0, < 5.42.0.0; >= 6.0.0.0, < 6.49.0.0 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53659
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53659
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/commit/2618fe08f9801353012561ae1f1382fa2d37bac9
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/commit/9f9e02f8efbbe04e0c70f1c46eef5d9d9067ea5b
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/releases/tag/6.49.0.0
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/security/advisories/GHSA-g4w2-6h2r-3m3w
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