High severity · published Jan 7, 2026
CVE-2026-21441
urllib3 vulnerable to decompression-bomb safeguard bypass when following HTTP redirects (streaming API)
7.5
CVSS
2.9%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
urllib3 is an HTTP client library for Python. urllib3's streaming API is designed for the efficient handling of large HTTP responses by reading the content in chunks, rather than loading the entire response body into memory at once. urllib3 can perform decoding or decompression based on the HTTP `Content-Encoding` header (e.g., `gzip`, `deflate`, `br`, or `zstd`). When using the streaming API, the library decompresses only the necessary bytes, enabling partial content consumption. Starting in version 1.22 and prior to version 2.6.3, for HTTP redirect responses, the library would read the entire response body to drain the connection and decompress the content unnecessarily. This decompression occurred even before any read methods were called, and configured read limits did not restrict the amount of decompressed data. As a result, there was no safeguard against decompression bombs. A malicious server could exploit this to trigger excessive resource consumption on the client. Applications and libraries are affected when they stream content from untrusted sources by setting `preload_content=False` when they do not disable redirects. Users should upgrade to at least urllib3 v2.6.3, in which the library does not decode content of redirect responses when `preload_content=False`. If upgrading is not immediately possible, disable redirects by setting `redirect=False` for requests to untrusted source.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)2.9% · higher than 87% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
UR
urllib3 · urllib3
>= 1.22, < 2.6.3 · source: vendor, NVD
MG
Multicluster Global Hub 1.4.5 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
NO
Network Observability (NETOBSERV) 1.11.0 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
OA
OpenShift API for Data Protection 1.3 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
R4
RHUI 4 for RHEL 8 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.8 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.9 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
Affected product
UR
urllib3
urllib3
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