---
id: CVE-2023-23916
title: >-
  An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability exists
  in curl <v7.88.0 based on the "chained" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning
  that a server response can be compressed multiple times and potentially with
  differ…
summary: >-
  An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability exists
  in curl <v7.88.0 based on the "chained" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning
  that a server response can be compressed multiple times and potentially with
  differ…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-770
  - CWE-770
  - CWE-770
vendor: haxx
product: curl
affected:
  - 'curl >= 7.57.0, < 7.88.0'
  - fedora = 36
  - debian_linux = 10.0
  - debian_linux = 11.0
  - h300s_firmware
  - h500s_firmware
  - h700s_firmware
  - h410s_firmware
  - clustered_data_ontap
  - 'universal_forwarder >= 8.2.0, < 8.2.12'
  - 'universal_forwarder >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.6'
  - universal_forwarder = 9.1.0
patched:
  - curl 7.88.0
  - universal_forwarder 9.0.6
published: '2023-02-23'
updated: '2026-10-14'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-14T23:17:14.433'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23916'
references:
  - url: 'https://hackerone.com/reports/1826048'
    label: support@hackerone.com
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/02/msg00035.html'
    label: support@hackerone.com
  - url: >-
      https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BQKE6TXYDHOTFHLTBZ5X73GTKI7II5KO/
    label: support@hackerone.com
  - url: 'https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202310-12'
    label: support@hackerone.com
  - url: 'https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230309-0006/'
    label: support@hackerone.com
  - url: 'https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5365'
    label: support@hackerone.com
  - url: 'https://hackerone.com/reports/1826048'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/02/msg00035.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: >-
      https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BQKE6TXYDHOTFHLTBZ5X73GTKI7II5KO/
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202310-12'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230309-0006/'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5365'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.01703
epssPercentile: 0.76799
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T00:02:07.127Z'
---

## Overview

An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability exists in curl <v7.88.0 based on the "chained" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning that a server response can be compressed multiple times and potentially with differentalgorithms. The number of acceptable "links" in this "decompression chain" wascapped, but the cap was implemented on a per-header basis allowing a maliciousserver to insert a virtually unlimited number of compression steps simply byusing many headers. The use of such a decompression chain could result in a "malloc bomb", making curl end up spending enormous amounts of allocated heap memory, or trying to and returning out of memory errors.

## Affected

- `curl >= 7.57.0, < 7.88.0`
- `fedora = 36`
- `debian_linux = 10.0`
- `debian_linux = 11.0`
- `h300s_firmware`
- `h500s_firmware`
- `h700s_firmware`
- `h410s_firmware`
- `clustered_data_ontap`
- `universal_forwarder >= 8.2.0, < 8.2.12`
- `universal_forwarder >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.6`
- `universal_forwarder = 9.1.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `curl 7.88.0`
- `universal_forwarder 9.0.6`