Tornado: Quadratic CPU usage when parsing HTTP headers with line folding
CVE-2026-116577

5.3MEDIUM

Key Information:

Vendor

Tornadoweb

Status
Vendor
CVE Published:
26 October 2026

What is CVE-2026-116577?

Tornado is a Python web framework and asynchronous networking library. Prior to 6.6, Tornado's HTTP header parser accepts obsolete line folding and repeatedly concatenates short continuation lines, causing quadratic CPU consumption on the IOLoop thread. An unauthenticated client can submit a header block containing many obsolete line-folding continuations before application code runs, blocking other connections served by the process. The cost grows with max_header_size, and only availability is affected. This issue is fixed in version 6.6.

Affected Version(s)

tornado < 6.6

References

CVSS V3.1

Score:
5.3
Severity:
MEDIUM
Confidentiality:
None
Integrity:
None
Availability:
None
Attack Vector:
Network
Attack Complexity:
Low
Privileges Required:
None
User Interaction:
None
Scope:
Unchanged

Timeline

  • Vulnerability published

  • Vulnerability Reserved

.