Summary
Skipper: Incomplete fix for CVE-2026-50197: an oversized body can bypass OPA deny-on-presence Rego policies
A wrong policy can be an open door.
You have to check input.attributes.request.http.truncated_body in your policy.
Description
Incomplete fix for CVE-2026-50197: an oversized declared-Content-Length body still hands OPA an empty parsed_body, so deny-on-presence Rego policies fail OPEN while the full payload reaches upstream.
The CVE-2026-50197 fix (commit 3152f3b0, PR #4041, v0.26.10) substituted expectedSize = maxBodyBytes
only when req.ContentLength < 0 (chunked / HTTP/2 without content-length). But when a request declares aContent-Length larger than maxBodyBytes, expectedSize > maxBodyBytes, the body-extraction if is
skipped entirely, and ExtractHttpBodyOptionally returns rawBodyBytes = nil, so OPA evaluates an emptyparsed_body, while the full forbidden payload still flows to the upstream. A deny-on-presence policy
(default allow = true; allow = false if input.parsed_body.<forbidden>), the exact Rego shape the
advisory describes, fails OPEN. The fix's own comment reasons only about ContentLength == -1; the
oversized branch was never considered, and the added PoC test only covers small bodies.
Affected code
filters/openpolicyagent/openpolicyagent.goExtractHttpBodyOptionally: theexpectedSize <= maxBodyBytesgate lets an oversized declared body fall through toreturn req.Body, nil, func() {}, nil(OPA sees an empty document).- Corroborated by Skipper's own unit test "Read body exhausting max bytes" (
{ "welcome": "world" },maxBodySize: 5→bodyInPolicy: "").
Steps to reproduce
See attached docker-compose.yml (official golang image) + setup.sh + exploit.sh, which run a real
Skipper proxy (proxytest) with a real OPA control plane (opasdktest),WithMaxRequestBodyBytes(32), policy allow = false if input.parsed_body.action == "delete", route* -> opaAuthorizeRequestWithBody("test") -> upstream:
{"action":"delete"}(19B ≤ 32) → 403 (denied).{"action":"delete","pad":"X..64"}(> 32) → 200, upstream received the full body (BYPASS).- small chunked
{"action":"delete"}→ 403 (positive control: the original CVE is fixed).
(Library-tier: validated via Skipper's real proxy test harness, not a deploy of the official image; benign
oracle = status diff + upstream-received body; no RCE.)
Mitigation
Document how policy owners should block requests with oversized body.
Example deny by default and use "allow if" no oversized body:
default allow := false
allow if {
input.attributes.request.http.truncated_body == false
# ... body-based conditions
}
Example allow by default and use "deny if" an oversized body:
default deny := false
deny if {
input.attributes.request.http.truncated_body == true
# ... body-based conditions
}
Documentation is published by https://github.com/zalando/skipper/releases/tag/v0.27.26
Credit
Reported as part of an incomplete-patch measurement study (responsible disclosure).
Impact
Deployments authorizing on request-body content via opaAuthorizeRequestWithBody + deny-on-presence Rego
can be bypassed by inflating the request body past -open-policy-agent-max-request-body-size (default
1 MB); the full payload still reaches the upstream.
GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 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 (0.27.26); 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 GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734? GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 is a high-severity security vulnerability in github.com/zalando/skipper (go), affecting versions < 0.27.26. It is fixed in 0.27.26.
- How severe is GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734? GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 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 github.com/zalando/skipper are affected by GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734? github.com/zalando/skipper (go) versions < 0.27.26 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734? Yes. GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 is fixed in 0.27.26. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 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-8QQM-FP2Q-V734 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-8QQM-FP2Q-V734? Upgrade
github.com/zalando/skipperto 0.27.26 or later.