vulnerability / NVI-00013160 / Revision 2
urllib3: Chunked Deflate streaming can enter an infinite loop
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for urllib3. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
5.3 MEDIUM (3.1)
nvd@nist.gov severity; no combined Null risk score.
6.9 MEDIUM (4.0)
security-advisories@github.com severity; no combined Null risk score.
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
urllib3
source listed>= 2.6.2, < 2.8.0
### Impact urllib3's streaming API is designed for the efficient handling of large HTTP responses by reading content in chunks instead of loading the entire response body into memory at once. urllib3 can decompress response bodies according to the HTTP `Content-Encoding` header. When streaming a compressed, chunked response, urllib3 first consumes data already buffered by the decoder before reading the next HTTP chunk. However, urllib3 versions from 2.6.2 through 2.7.0 could enter an infinite loop when a chunked response contained bytes after the end of the Deflate stream. If the decompressed body exceeded the requested streaming chunk size, Python's zlib implementation could retain the trailing bytes as unconsumed input after reaching the end of the compressed stream. urllib3 would repeatedly attempt to decode those same bytes without making progress or reading more data from the network. A malicious server could exploit this behavior to cause excessive CPU usage and prevent the affected request from completing on the client. Network read timeouts would not interrupt the loop because no further socket operation was required. ### Affected usages Applications and libraries usi
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. NIST National Vulnerability Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
- NVD lastModified does not establish freshness of every associated CPE record.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-gh4c-6fx4-qh6g ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
Observed . GitHub Advisory Database; CC-BY-4.0. Each advisory links its original attribution. Null normalizes fields.
- CVE-2026-97688 ↗
NIST National Vulnerability Database · official catalog
Observed . This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 2 ·
Source facts changed; compare the preserved prior revision.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.