Vulnerability record · CVE-2021-21294 · published 2 February 2021
CVE-2021-21294: Typelevel http4s uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability
Typelevel · Http4s
Http4s (http4s-blaze-server) is a minimal, idiomatic Scala interface for HTTP services. Http4s before versions 0.21.17, 0.22.0-M2, and 1.0.0-M14 have a vulnerability which can lead to a denial-of-service. Blaze-core, a library underlying http4s-blaze-server, accepts connections unboundedly on its selector pool. This has the net effect of amplifying degradation in services that are unable to handle their current request load, since incoming connections are still accepted and added to an unbounded queue. Each connection allocates a socket handle, which drains a scarce OS resource. This can also confound higher level circuit breakers which work based on detecting failed connections. http4s provides a general "MaxActiveRequests" middleware mechanism for limiting open connections, but it is enforced inside the Blaze accept loop, after the connection is accepted and the socket opened. Thus, the limit only prevents the number of connections which can be simultaneously processed, not the number of connections which can be held open. In 0.21.17, 0.22.0-M2, and 1.0.0-M14, a new "maxConnections" property, with a default value of 1024, has been added to the `BlazeServerBuilder`. Setting the value to a negative number restores unbounded behavior, but is strongly disrecommended. The NIO2 backend does not respect `maxConnections`. Its use is now deprecated in http4s-0.21, and the option is removed altogether starting in http4s-0.22. There are several possible workarounds described in the refrenced GitHub Advisory GHSA-xhv5-w9c5-2r2w.
Description
Http4s (http4s-blaze-server) is a minimal, idiomatic Scala interface for HTTP services. Http4s before versions 0.21.17, 0.22.0-M2, and 1.0.0-M14 have a vulnerability which can lead to a denial-of-service. Blaze-core, a library underlying http4s-blaze-server, accepts connections unboundedly on its selector pool. This has the net effect of amplifying degradation in services that are unable to handle their current request load, since incoming connections are still accepted and added to an unbounded queue. Each connection allocates a socket handle, which drains a scarce OS resource. This can also confound higher level circuit breakers which work based on detecting failed connections. http4s provides a general "MaxActiveRequests" middleware mechanism for limiting open connections, but it is enforced inside the Blaze accept loop, after the connection is accepted and the socket opened. Thus, the limit only prevents the number of connections which can be simultaneously processed, not the number of connections which can be held open. In 0.21.17, 0.22.0-M2, and 1.0.0-M14, a new "maxConnections" property, with a default value of 1024, has been added to the `BlazeServerBuilder`. Setting the value to a negative number restores unbounded behavior, but is strongly disrecommended. The NIO2 backend does not respect `maxConnections`. Its use is now deprecated in http4s-0.21, and the option is removed altogether starting in http4s-0.22. There are several possible workarounds described in the refrenced GitHub Advisory GHSA-xhv5-w9c5-2r2w.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected products
1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.
References
| Link | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/http4s/blaze/security/advisories/GHSA-xmw9-q7x9-j5qc | Third Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/http4s/http4s/commit/987d6589ef79545b9bb2324ac4bdebf82d9a0171 | PatchThird Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/http4s/http4s/security/advisories/GHSA-xhv5-w9c5-2r2w | Third Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/http4s/blaze/security/advisories/GHSA-xmw9-q7x9-j5qc | Third Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/http4s/http4s/commit/987d6589ef79545b9bb2324ac4bdebf82d9a0171 | PatchThird Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/http4s/http4s/security/advisories/GHSA-xhv5-w9c5-2r2w | Third Party Advisory |
Track CVE-2021-21294 inside VULONE
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Related vulnerabilities
Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2021-21294), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.
