Denial of Service in http-proxy
Versions of http-proxy prior to 1.18.1 are vulnerable to Denial of Service. An HTTP request with a long body triggers an ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT unhandled exception that crashes the proxy server. This is only possible when the proxy server sets headers in the proxy request using the proxyReq.setHeader function.
For a proxy server running on http://localhost:3000, the following curl request triggers the unhandled exception:
curl -XPOST http://localhost:3000 -d "$(python -c 'print("x"*1025)')"
Recommendation
Upgrade to version 1.18.1 or later
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm package | http-proxy | < 1.18.1 | 1.18.1 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-184, CWE-693- Platform
- npm
- Package
http-proxy- Disclosed
- 04.09.2020
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-6x33-pw7p-hmpq - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: http-proxy
All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 2
- First → latest
- 11.2018 09.2020
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- High 2
Disclosures per year
- 2018: 1
- 2019: 0
- 2020: 1
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 0
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 0
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Denial of Service in http-proxy this entry
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