GHSA-V9PG-7XVM-68HF

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-06-15 20:23 – Updated: 2026-06-15 20:23
VLAI
Summary
python-multipart: Negative Content-Length in parse_form buffers the entire body in memory
Details

Summary

parse_form() did not validate the Content-Length header before using it to bound its chunked read of the request body. A negative Content-Length turned the bounded read into a read-until-EOF, so the entire body was loaded into memory in a single read instead of in fixed-size chunks.

Details

parse_form() reads the input stream in chunks, never reading more than the remaining Content-Length at a time. The per-chunk size is computed as min(content_length - bytes_read, chunk_size). The header value was parsed to an integer without checking its sign, so a Content-Length of -1 made this expression negative, and input_stream.read(-1) reads until end of stream. The intended bounded, chunked read therefore collapsed into a single unbounded read of the whole stream. The amount read is still bounded by what the client actually sends.

Impact

This only affects code that calls parse_form() directly with a Content-Length header taken from attacker-controlled input and without normalizing a negative value first. No known package is affected:

  • Starlette and FastAPI drive MultipartParser directly from the ASGI receive() stream and do not call parse_form().
  • Known parse_form() consumers either do not forward Content-Length to it, recompute it from the already-read body, or run behind a layer (such as Werkzeug) that normalizes a negative Content-Length to 0.

The realistic exposure is limited to bespoke WSGI or http.server handlers that forward raw client headers into parse_form(). In that case a crafted request buffers the body in memory at once, degrading availability under concurrent requests rather than causing a complete denial of service.

Mitigation

Upgrade to version 0.0.31 or later, which rejects a negative Content-Length with a ValueError before reading the stream.

Severity
3.7 (Low)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Show details on source website
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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "PyPI",
        "name": "python-multipart"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "0.0.31"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-53540"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-1284"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-06-15T20:23:45Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "LOW"
  },
  "details": "### Summary\n\n`parse_form()` did not validate the `Content-Length` header before using it to bound its chunked read of the request body. A negative `Content-Length` turned the bounded read into a read-until-EOF, so the entire body was loaded into memory in a single read instead of in fixed-size chunks.\n\n### Details\n\n`parse_form()` reads the input stream in chunks, never reading more than the remaining `Content-Length` at a time. The per-chunk size is computed as `min(content_length - bytes_read, chunk_size)`. The header value was parsed to an integer without checking its sign, so a `Content-Length` of `-1` made this expression negative, and `input_stream.read(-1)` reads until end of stream. The intended bounded, chunked read therefore collapsed into a single unbounded read of the whole stream. The amount read is still bounded by what the client actually sends.\n\n### Impact\n\nThis only affects code that calls `parse_form()` directly with a `Content-Length` header taken from attacker-controlled input and without normalizing a negative value first. No known package is affected:\n\n* Starlette and FastAPI drive `MultipartParser` directly from the ASGI `receive()` stream and do not call `parse_form()`.\n* Known `parse_form()` consumers either do not forward `Content-Length` to it, recompute it from the already-read body, or run behind a layer (such as Werkzeug) that normalizes a negative `Content-Length` to `0`.\n\nThe realistic exposure is limited to bespoke WSGI or `http.server` handlers that forward raw client headers into `parse_form()`. In that case a crafted request buffers the body in memory at once, degrading availability under concurrent requests rather than causing a complete denial of service.\n\n### Mitigation\n\nUpgrade to version `0.0.31` or later, which rejects a negative `Content-Length` with a `ValueError` before reading the stream.",
  "id": "GHSA-v9pg-7xvm-68hf",
  "modified": "2026-06-15T20:23:45Z",
  "published": "2026-06-15T20:23:45Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/Kludex/python-multipart/security/advisories/GHSA-v9pg-7xvm-68hf"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/Kludex/python-multipart"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "python-multipart: Negative Content-Length in parse_form buffers the entire body in memory"
}



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