CVE-2026-85721

AsyncHttpClient: Unbounded HTTP/1.1 response decompression enables a decompression-bomb denial of service

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: September 17, 2026 at 03:55 PM UTC
Updated: September 30, 2026 at 05:43 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAsyncHttpClient

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.6%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The AsyncHttpClient (AHC) library allows Java applications to easily execute HTTP requests and asynchronously process HTTP responses. From 2.0.0 until 2.16.1 and 3.0.12, automatic response decompression on the HTTP/1.1 path uses ChannelManager.newHttpContentDecompressor() to install Http1ContentDecompressor without a cumulative output-size limit. A hostile or compromised server, or an attacker who can alter a response in transit, can send a small gzip, deflate, or snappy response that expands across chunks until the client exhausts its heap and raises OutOfMemoryError; brotli and zstd are also affected when their optional codecs are present. In versions 3.0.8 through 3.0.10, the HTTP/2 decompressor is also unbounded, so switching protocols does not mitigate the issue on those releases. A limit applied to each decode call is insufficient because the response can be delivered as many small chunks, so the fixed implementation tracks total decompressed bytes for the whole response. This issue is fixed in versions 2.16.1 and 3.0.12.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 2.16.1v < 3.0.12
Affected range stops below 2.16.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.0.12, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusAWAITING ANALYSIS
CWE
CWE-400CWE-409

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