mediumCVSS 6.5Vulnerability

CVE-2026-59903

### Summary Netty's `CorsHandler` silently overwrites existing `Vary` headers, enabling cache poisoning and sensitive information disclosure. ### Details `io.netty.handler.codec.http.cors.CorsHandler#setVaryHeader` overwrites any existing Vary headers set by backend applications. ```java private static void setVaryHeader(final HttpResponse response) { response.headers().set(HttpHeaderNames.VARY, HttpHeaderNames.ORIGIN); } ``` Because `set()` replaces all existing values for the header, if a backend application sets a `Vary` header (such as `Vary: Authorization` or `Vary: Cookie`) to ensure that intermediate caches (like CDNs) cache responses separately per user, the `CorsHandler` will overwrite it with `Vary: origin`. This causes the caching proxy to ignore the authorization context and cache the response based solely on the URL and Origin, allowing an attacker to retrieve another user's cached sensitive data. ### Impact This is a Cache Poisoning vulnerability that leads to Information Disclosure. It impacts any Netty-based web application that uses the CorsHandler, sets its own Vary headers to manage caching of authenticated or user-specific responses (e.g., Vary: Authorization), and is deployed behind a caching proxy or CDN. The end-users of these applications are impacted, as their sensitive data may be leaked to unauthorized actors.

Properties

ghsa_id
GHSA-8c42-7qj2-3j46
severity
medium
summary
Netty Vulnerable to Cache Poisoning and Information Disclosure via CORS Vary Header Overwrite
cvss_score
6.5
cve_id
CVE-2026-59903
cvss_vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
is_ghsa_only
false
ghsa_published
2026-08-17T18:24:26Z
source_url
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-8c42-7qj2-3j46
ghsa_updated
2026-08-17T18:24:27Z

Related Entities (4)

VULNERABLE_TO (1)

[Software]maven/io.netty:netty-codec-http

AFFECTS (1)

[Software]maven/io.netty:netty-codec-http

HAS_WEAKNESS (1)

[Weakness]Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information

REPORTED_BY (1)

[Source]GitHub Advisory Database

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CVE-2026-59903 (CVSS 6.5) — Ninja Signal Threat Intelligence | Ninja Signal