CVE-2024-42516VulnerabilityPublished 10 Jul 2025Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-42516: Apache HTTP Server · Improper Input Validation

Affects Apache HTTP ServerSource CVE Database V5

Mentioned vulnerabilities

CVE-2023-38709

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 2.4.64 soon.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 56% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.4.64

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: 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 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade apache/httpd to 2.4.64.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Apacheapache/httpd`pkg:rpm/apache/httpd`Other threats	Affected =2.4.0 <2.4.64	Fixed in 2.4.64

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-42516, European organizations should immediately upgrade all affected Apache HTTP Server instances to version 2.4.64 or later, which contains the complete fix for this vulnerability. Beyond upgrading, organizations should audit their web applications and proxy configurations to ensure that Content-Type headers are not susceptible to injection of CRLF characters or other malicious input. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on all HTTP headers, especially those that can be influenced by user input or external sources. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block HTTP response splitting attempts. Regularly monitor server logs for suspicious header manipulations or anomalies in HTTP responses. Conduct penetration testing focused on header injection vulnerabilities to verify the effectiveness of mitigations.

Description

HTTP response splitting in the core of Apache HTTP Server allows an attacker who can manipulate the Content-Type response headers of applications hosted or proxied by the server can split the HTTP response. This vulnerability was described as CVE-2023-38709 but the patch included in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.59 did not address the issue. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 2.4.64, which fixes this issue.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2024-42516 can be substantial. Apache HTTP Server is widely used across Europe for hosting websites, web applications, and as a reverse proxy. Successful exploitation can lead to HTTP response splitting attacks, enabling attackers to inject malicious content into HTTP responses, potentially facilitating web cache poisoning, cross-site scripting (XSS), session hijacking, and other integrity-compromising attacks. This undermines trust in web services, risks data integrity, and can lead to reputational damage and regulatory non-compliance, especially under GDPR where data integrity and security are critical. Critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and telecommunications that rely heavily on Apache HTTP Server are particularly vulnerable. The lack of confidentiality or availability impact reduces the risk of data leakage or denial of service, but the high integrity impact still poses a serious threat to secure communications and user trust. The ease of remote exploitation without authentication increases the urgency for mitigation. Given the interconnected nature of European digital infrastructure, a successful attack could also have cascading effects on supply chains and service providers.

CWE-20Improper Input Validation (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #18OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design · Attack Surface Reduction
Consider using language-theoretic security (LangSec) techniques that characterize inputs using a formal language and build "recognizers" for that language. This effectively requires parsing to be a distinct layer that effectively enforces a boundary between raw input and internal data representations, instead of…
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use an input validation framework such as Struts or the OWASP ESAPI Validation API. Note that using a framework does not automatically address all input validation problems; be mindful of weaknesses that could arise from misusing the framework itself (CWE-1173).
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter the product, including but not limited to: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
SQL Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention in Java (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables (opens in a new tab)
Server Side Include (SSI) Injection (opens in a new tab)
Cross Zone Scripting (opens in a new tab)
Command Line Execution through SQL Injection (opens in a new tab)
Object Relational Mapping Injection (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Nov 2025, 20:22 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-20

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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