Summary
Request smuggling leading to endpoint restriction bypass in Gunicorn
Gunicorn fails to properly validate Transfer-Encoding headers, leading to HTTP Request Smuggling (HRS) vulnerabilities. By crafting requests with conflicting Transfer-Encoding headers, attackers can bypass security restrictions and access restricted endpoints. This issue is due to Gunicorn's handling of Transfer-Encoding headers, where it incorrectly processes requests with multiple, conflicting Transfer-Encoding headers, treating them as chunked regardless of the final encoding specified. This vulnerability has been shown to allow access to endpoints restricted by gunicorn. This issue has been addressed in version 22.0.0.
To be affected users must have a network path which does not filter out invalid requests. These users are advised to block access to restricted endpoints via a firewall or other mechanism if they are unable to update.
Impact
CVE-2024-1135 has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (22.0.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2024-1135? CVE-2024-1135 is a high-severity security vulnerability in gunicorn (pip), affecting versions < 22.0.0. It is fixed in 22.0.0.
- How severe is CVE-2024-1135? CVE-2024-1135 has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of gunicorn are affected by CVE-2024-1135? gunicorn (pip) versions < 22.0.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2024-1135? Yes. CVE-2024-1135 is fixed in 22.0.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2024-1135 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-1135 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2024-1135 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2024-1135? Upgrade
gunicornto 22.0.0 or later.