CVE-2026-43966: cowboy and gun affected by an HTTP Request/Response Splitting vulnerability
Affects cowboySource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.3 Medium : upgrade to 2.16.0 when convenient.
Data as of 12 Nov 2026, 17:24 UTC
Thin evidence
One scorer or none| CNA (EEF) | CVSS 4.0 | 6.3 |
|---|
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 2.16.0, 2.4.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:L/SA:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 8 Jun 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 12 Nov 2026.
What to do
Upgrade cowboy to 2.16.0; gun to 2.4.0.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Hexcowboy | Affected
| Fixed in
|
| Hexgun | Affected
| Fixed in
|
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
AI-suggested
A patch is available and fixed versions are 2.16.0 and 2.4.0 of cowlib. Users should upgrade to these versions or later to remediate the vulnerability. No additional mitigations are specified or required beyond applying the official fix.
Description
CVE-2026-43966 is an HTTP Request/Response Splitting vulnerability in the cowlib library used by cowboy. It arises from improper escaping of CRLF sequences in HTTP header values, allowing attackers to inject CRLF characters and split HTTP responses. This affects cowlib versions before 2.16.0 and 2.4.0. A fix is available in versions 2.16.0 and 2.4.0.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43966 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/cowlib/pull/163 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/cowlib/pull/166 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/cowboy/commit/f77cb9b5e730e300fffb551db1ba5d1c4ed878ef (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/cowlib/commit/4401b858f2229abb3ea115c60924f6c77e5f8aa3 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/cowlib/commit/a8b793db3d6ffe91d62f81baf41b1dab4cd78fb6 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/gun/commit/4f35609eb37109b106a863fc9ba83d7ee64e3e42 (opens in a new tab)
- cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-43966.html (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/ninenines/cowlib (opens in a new tab)
- osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-43966 (opens in a new tab)