Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences ('CRLF Injection') vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows HTTP request splitting and cookie smuggling via unvalidated cookie name and value fields.

cow_cookie:cookie/1 in cowlib builds a client-side Cookie: request header from a list of name-value pairs without validating either field. An attacker who controls the cookie names or values passed to this function can inject ;, ,, CR, LF, or TAB characters into the serialized header. This enables two classes of attack: cookie smuggling within a single header (e.g. injecting "; admin=1" to introduce a phantom cookie that the receiving server treats as authentic) and HTTP request header splitting (injecting CRLF to append arbitrary headers or smuggle a complete second request against a shared upstream proxy). The decoder side (parse_cookie_name/1, parse_cookie_value/1) and setcookie/3 already validate and reject these characters; the encoder alone is missing the check.

This issue affects cowlib from 2.9.0.

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Workaround

Validate inputs into cow_cookie:cookie/1 to only include valid cookie name and value characters as defined in RFC 6265 Section 4.1.1 before passing them to the function.

History

Mon, 11 May 2026 19:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 11 May 2026 18:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences ('CRLF Injection') vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows HTTP request splitting and cookie smuggling via unvalidated cookie name and value fields. cow_cookie:cookie/1 in cowlib builds a client-side Cookie: request header from a list of name-value pairs without validating either field. An attacker who controls the cookie names or values passed to this function can inject ;, ,, CR, LF, or TAB characters into the serialized header. This enables two classes of attack: cookie smuggling within a single header (e.g. injecting "; admin=1" to introduce a phantom cookie that the receiving server treats as authentic) and HTTP request header splitting (injecting CRLF to append arbitrary headers or smuggle a complete second request against a shared upstream proxy). The decoder side (parse_cookie_name/1, parse_cookie_value/1) and setcookie/3 already validate and reject these characters; the encoder alone is missing the check. This issue affects cowlib from 2.9.0.
Title Cookie Request Header Injection via Unvalidated Encoder in cow_cookie:cookie/1
First Time appeared Ninenines
Ninenines cowlib
Weaknesses CWE-93
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:ninenines:cowlib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Ninenines
Ninenines cowlib
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 2.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:L/SA:N'}


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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: EEF

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-11T18:55:26.121Z

Reserved: 2026-05-04T18:23:25.573Z

Link: CVE-2026-43969

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-11T18:55:21.472Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-05-11T19:16:25.330

Modified: 2026-05-11T19:16:25.330

Link: CVE-2026-43969

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-11T19:30:06Z

Weaknesses