CVE-2026-116577: Tornado · Quadratic CPU usage when parsing HTTP headers with line folding
Affects snakevizSource GCVE Database
Mentioned vulnerabilities
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium : upgrade to 2.2.2_7 when convenient.
Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:02 UTC
Thin evidence
One scorer or none| CNA (GitHub_M) | CVSS 3.1 | 5.3 |
|---|
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 2.2.2_7
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:LExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 26 Oct 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 29 Oct 2026.
What to do
Upgrade snakeviz to 2.2.2_7.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
Homebrewsnakevizpkg:brew/snakevizOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in
|
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
Description
### Summary Tornado's HTTP header parser takes quadratic time (O(n²)) when a header value is continued across many "obsolete line folding" (obs-fold) lines. An unauthenticated attacker can send a request whose header block is mostly short continuation lines. Parsing it uses a large amount of CPU on the IOLoop thread and blocks every other connection that process is serving. This issue is closely related to CVE-2025-67725 (GHSA-c98p-7wgm-6p64). The fix for that advisory covered repeated headers but not line-folded continuations. ### Impact All Tornado HTTP servers are affected. Header parsing runs before any application code, so no authentication or particular handler is required. How bad it gets depends on `max_header_size`: - **Default (64 KB):** each malicious request blocks the event loop for tens of milliseconds. Repeated requests can degrade service. - **Raised `max_header_size`:** the cost grows with the square of the header size. A single 1 MB request can block the process for several seconds. Only availability is affected. Confidentiality and integrity are not. ### Patches Fixed in Tornado 6.6 by removing support for obsolete line folding completely; header lines that begin with whitespace are now rejected. ### Workarounds - Keep `max_header_size` at its default value or lower it. This limits the impact but doesn't remove it. - Run Tornado behind a reverse proxy that rejects or normalizes obsolete line folding before forwarding requests. ### Credit Reported by @manus-pi.
References
- github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/security/advisories/GHSA-pcg2-g6cj-q92c (opens in a new tab)
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116577 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/pull/3765 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/commit/1b7a1dc9f340f52de929852e8125aa12f25297c9 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/tornadoweb/tornado (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/releases/tag/v6.6.0 (opens in a new tab)