What is GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 is a low-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 (maven), affecting versions <= 0.21.7. It is fixed in 0.21.8. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 (maven) versions <= 0.21.7; org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 (maven) versions <= 0.21.7.

Is there a fix for GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

Yes. GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 is fixed in 0.21.8. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 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.

What actually determines whether GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 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 GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

Upgrade: org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 to 0.21.8 or later, org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 to 0.21.8 or later.

GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45

Q: Which packages are affected by GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 (maven) versions <= 0.21.7; org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 (maven) versions <= 0.21.7.

Q: Is there a fix for GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

Yes. GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 is fixed in 0.21.8. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 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.

Q: What actually determines whether GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 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.

Q: How do I fix GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?

Upgrade: org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 to 0.21.8 or later, org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 to 0.21.8 or later.

Summary

Memory exhaustion in http4s-async-http-client with large or malicious compressed responses

Workarounds

Add an explicit runtime dependency on async-http-client's netty dependencies that evicts them to an unaffected version:

libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
  "io.netty" %  "netty-codec"         % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime,
  "io.netty" %  "netty-codec-socks"   % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime,
  "io.netty" %  "netty-handler-proxy" % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime,
  "io.netty" %  "netty-common"        % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime,
  "io.netty" %  "netty-transport"     % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime,
  "io.netty" %  "netty-handler"       % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime,
  "io.netty" %  "netty-resolver-dns"  % "4.1.53.Final" % Runtime
)

References

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Open an issue in http4s
Contact a maintainer privately per http4s' security policy

Impact

A server we connect to with http4s-async-http-client could theoretically respond with a large or malicious compressed stream and exhaust memory in the client JVM. It does not affect http4s servers, other client backends, or clients that speak only to trusted servers. This is related to a transitive dependency on netty-codec-4.1.45.Final, which is affected by CVE-2020-11612.

Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.

Affected versions

org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 (<= 0.21.7) org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 (<= 0.21.7)

Security releases

org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 → 0.21.8 (maven) org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 → 0.21.8 (maven)

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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Remediation advice

Upgrade to http4s-async-http-client >= 0.21.8. All 1.0 milestones are also safe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45? GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 is a low-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 (maven), affecting versions <= 0.21.7. It is fixed in 0.21.8. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
Which packages are affected by GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?
- org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 (maven) (versions <= 0.21.7)
- org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 (maven) (versions <= 0.21.7)
Is there a fix for GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45? Yes. GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 is fixed in 0.21.8. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 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 GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45 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 GHSA-8HXH-R6F7-JF45?
- Upgrade org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.13 to 0.21.8 or later
- Upgrade org.http4s:http4s-async-http-client_2.12 to 0.21.8 or later