CVE-2026-97689

urllib3 is an HTTP client library for Python. From 1.10.3 until 2.8.0, the HTTPResponse.read_chunked and HTTPResponse.stream methods can allocate unbounded memory because the streaming chunk parser buffers the chunk-size field until newline or EOF without a length bound. The trigger is that a malicious server returns Transfer-Encoding: chunked followed by a very long run of bytes without a newline. The attack mechanism is that a malicious HTTP server sends a very long unterminated chunk-size line. The impact is that unbounded memory allocation can exhaust the client process. This issue is fixed in version 2.8.0.

  • Published Sep 29, 2026
  • CVSS 8.9 high
  • 0.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS)
  • A fix is available

Affected software

In the news

CVE-2026-97689 at the National Vulnerability Database