urllib3: Decompression-bomb safeguards bypassed in parts of the streaming API (CVE-2026-44432)
Published Last modified Sources: Red Hat, OSV, CVE.org, Ubuntu, EUVD, BSI
What is affected, what to do
A flaw was found in urllib3, an HTTP client library for Python. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause excessive resource consumption, such as high CPU usage and massive memory allocation, on the client side.
Update urllib3 to version 2.7.0, Concert to version 3.0.0.
- Affected
- Urllib3
gte 2.6.0, < 2.7.0..*
- Urllib3
Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability
Metrics
8.9
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: NVD, CVSS v4
7.5
CVSS v3
Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: Red Hat, OSV, CVE.org, Ubuntu, EUVD, BSI
0.7 %
EPSS score
Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 52.4
Show all metrics
- Severity
- High
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 83.73 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 8.9 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 7.5
CVSS v4
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 8.9
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 0.7 %
- Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 52.4
- High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
- CISA assessment (SSVC)
- Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: partial
- Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 15 May 2026
CWE
CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.
Read in glossary- CWE-409
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
A flaw was found in urllib3, an HTTP client library for Python. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause excessive resource consumption, such as high CPU usage and massive memory allocation, on the client side. This occurs when urllib3 attempts to decompress an entire HTTP response, even if only a partial read was requested, or when draining the connection after a partial decompression. This can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) condition.
Source: redhat_csaf, OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities), cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE), Ubuntu Security Notices, ENISA EUVD, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| urllib3 | urllib3 |
|
|
| python | urllib3 |
|
|
| IBM | Concert |
|
|
| Oracle | Solaris |
|
|
| pypi | urllib3 |
|
|
Vendors and products
Weakness classes (CWE)
CWE-409Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)
Base
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles a compressed input with a very high compression ratio that produces a large output.
Entry at MITRE CWE-409
References & sources
- github.comurllib3/urllib3/security/advisories/GHSA-mf9v-mfxr-j63jadvisory, x_refsource_CONFIRM
- access.redhat.comsecurity/cve/CVE-2026-44432Vulnerability database, x_refsource_REDHAT
- bugzilla.redhat.comRHBZ#2477154Issue tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
- security.access.redhat.comdata/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44432.jsonx_sadp-csaf-vex
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:42078Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:34160Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:42079Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:27929Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:32992Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:28159Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:28157Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:28000Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:28158Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:30078Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:30089Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:30088Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:30087Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:24542Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:24540Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:24544Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
Changes to this CVE
Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Affected versions (publisher) added —Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/44xxx/CVE-2026-44432.json">CVE-2026-44432</a>Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
New references:Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:58981Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Affected versions (publisher) changed Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+186)Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+186)Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
New references:Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:56347Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
New references:Show 2 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:44481Affected versions (publisher) changed Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+181)Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+186)Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Show 3 older changes
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
Show 3 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42796Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:43038Affected versions (publisher) changed Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+180)Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+181)Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
Show 6 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42078Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42079Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42132Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42144Reference added —https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42644Affected versions (publisher) changed Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (+176)Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 (+180)Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Record modifiedRed Hat ADP
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Affected versions (publisher) changed Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (+176)Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (+176)Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-44432"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-44432.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-44432 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>