The application must use cow_spdy:parse/2 to parse SPDY frames from an untrusted peer. cowboy itself does not use cow_spdy; only direct callers of the cow_spdy API are affected.
" } ], "value": "The application must use cow_spdy:parse/2 to parse SPDY frames from an untrusted peer. cowboy itself does not use cow_spdy; only direct callers of the cow_spdy API are affected." } ], "cpeApplicability": [ { "nodes": [ { "cpeMatch": [ { "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:ninenines:cowlib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionEndExcluding": "2.16.1", "versionStartIncluding": "0.1.0", "vulnerable": true } ], "negate": false, "operator": "OR" } ] } ], "credits": [ { "lang": "en", "type": "finder", "value": "Peter Ullrich" }, { "lang": "en", "type": "remediation developer", "value": "Loïc Hoguin" } ], "descriptions": [ { "lang": "en", "supportingMedia": [ { "base64": false, "type": "text/html", "value": "Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows unauthenticated remote denial of service via memory exhaustion.
cow_spdy:inflate/2 in cowlib passes peer-supplied compressed bytes directly to zlib:inflate/2 with no output size bound. The SPDY header compression dictionary (?ZDICT) is public, and zlib compresses long runs of repeated bytes at roughly 1024:1, so a few kilobytes of SPDY frame payload can decompress to gigabytes on the BEAM heap, OOM-killing the node. A single unauthenticated SPDY frame is sufficient to trigger the condition. The parsers for syn_stream, syn_reply, and headers frame types are all affected via cow_spdy:parse_headers/2.
This issue affects cowlib from 0.1.0 before 2.16.1.
" } ], "value": "Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows unauthenticated remote denial of service via memory exhaustion.\n\ncow_spdy:inflate/2 in cowlib passes peer-supplied compressed bytes directly to zlib:inflate/2 with no output size bound. The SPDY header compression dictionary (?ZDICT) is public, and zlib compresses long runs of repeated bytes at roughly 1024:1, so a few kilobytes of SPDY frame payload can decompress to gigabytes on the BEAM heap, OOM-killing the node. A single unauthenticated SPDY frame is sufficient to trigger the condition. The parsers for syn_stream, syn_reply, and headers frame types are all affected via cow_spdy:parse_headers/2.\n\nThis issue affects cowlib from 0.1.0 before 2.16.1." } ], "impacts": [ { "capecId": "CAPEC-130", "descriptions": [ { "lang": "en", "value": "CAPEC-130 Excessive Allocation" } ] } ], "metrics": [ { "cvssV4_0": { "attackComplexity": "LOW", "attackRequirements": "PRESENT", "attackVector": "NETWORK", "baseScore": 8.2, "baseSeverity": "HIGH", "privilegesRequired": "NONE", "subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE", "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE", "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE", "userInteraction": "NONE", "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N", "version": "4.0", "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "HIGH", "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "NONE", "vulnIntegrityImpact": "NONE" }, "format": "CVSS", "scenarios": [ { "lang": "en", "value": "GENERAL" } ] } ], "problemTypes": [ { "descriptions": [ { "cweId": "CWE-409", "description": "CWE-409 Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)", "lang": "en", "type": "CWE" } ] } ], "providerMetadata": { "orgId": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db", "shortName": "EEF", "dateUpdated": "2026-05-15T04:33:30.898Z" }, "references": [ { "tags": [ "related", "third-party-advisory" ], "url": "https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-43970.html" }, { "tags": [ "related" ], "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-43970" }, { "tags": [ "patch" ], "url": "https://github.com/ninenines/cowlib/commit/16aad3fb9f81f5cda4d1706ff0c54237c619c282" } ], "solutions": [ { "lang": "en", "supportingMedia": [ { "base64": false, "type": "text/html", "value": "Upgrade to cowlib 2.16.1 or later, in which the cow_spdy module has been removed entirely. No patched version of cow_spdy will be provided. Migrate away from SPDY, which has been deprecated since 2015 in favour of HTTP/2.
" } ], "value": "Upgrade to cowlib 2.16.1 or later, in which the cow_spdy module has been removed entirely. No patched version of cow_spdy will be provided. Migrate away from SPDY, which has been deprecated since 2015 in favour of HTTP/2." } ], "source": { "discovery": "EXTERNAL" }, "title": "Decompression Bomb in cow_spdy:inflate/2 Allows Memory Exhaustion via Crafted SPDY Frame", "x_generator": { "engine": "cvelib 1.8.0" } }, "adp": [ { "metrics": [ { "other": { "type": "ssvc", "content": { "timestamp": "2026-05-14T12:38:59.086048Z", "id": "CVE-2026-43970", "options": [ { "Exploitation": "none" }, { "Automatable": "no" }, { "Technical Impact": "partial" } ], "role": "CISA Coordinator", "version": "2.0.3" } } } ], "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment", "providerMetadata": { "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0", "shortName": "CISA-ADP", "dateUpdated": "2026-05-14T12:39:10.669Z" } } ] } }