curl inadvertently kept the SSL session ID for connections in its cache even when the verify status (*OCSP stapling*) test failed. A subsequent transfer to the same hostname could then succeed if the session ID cache was still fresh, which then skipped the verify status check.

When saving HSTS data to an excessively long file name, curl could end up removing all contents, making subsequent requests using that file unaware of the HSTS status they should otherwise use.

This flaw allows a malicious HTTP server to set "super cookies" in curl that are then passed back to more origins than what is otherwise allowed or possible. This allows a site to set cookies that then would get sent to different and unrelated sites and domains. It could do this by exploiting a mixed case flaw in curl's function that verifies a given cookie domain against the Public Suffix List (PSL). For example a cookie could be set with `domain=co.UK` when the URL used a lower case hostname `curl.co.uk`, even though `co.uk` is listed as a PSL domain.

When curl retrieves an HTTP response, it stores the incoming headers so that they can be accessed later via the libcurl headers API. However, curl did not have a limit in how many or how large headers it would accept in a response, allowing a malicious server to stream an endless series of headers and eventually cause curl to run out of heap memory.

Integer overflow vulnerability in tool_operate.c in curl 7.65.2 via a large value as the retry delay. NOTE: many parties report that this has no direct security impact on the curl user; however, it may (in theory) cause a denial of service to associated systems or networks if, for example, --retry-delay is misinterpreted as a value much smaller than what was intended. This is not especially plausible because the overflow only happens if the user was trying to specify that curl should wait weeks (or longer) before trying to recover from a transient error.

An information disclosure vulnerability exists in curl <v8.1.0 when doing HTTP(S) transfers, libcurl might erroneously use the read callback (`CURLOPT_READFUNCTION`) to ask for data to send, even when the `CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS` option has been set, if the same handle previously wasused to issue a `PUT` request which used that callback. This flaw may surprise the application and cause it to misbehave and either send off the wrong data or use memory after free or similar in the second transfer. The problem exists in the logic for a reused handle when it is (expected to be) changed from a PUT to a POST.

An improper certificate validation vulnerability exists in curl <v8.1.0 in the way it supports matching of wildcard patterns when listed as "Subject Alternative Name" in TLS server certificates. curl can be built to use its own name matching function for TLS rather than one provided by a TLS library. This private wildcard matching function would match IDN (International Domain Name) hosts incorrectly and could as a result accept patterns that otherwise should mismatch. IDN hostnames are converted to puny code before used for certificate checks. Puny coded names always start with `xn--` and should not be allowed to pattern match, but the wildcard check in curl could still check for `x*`, which would match even though the IDN name most likely contained nothing even resembling an `x`.

A denial of service vulnerability exists in curl <v8.1.0 in the way libcurl provides several different backends for resolving host names, selected at build time. If it is built to use the synchronous resolver, it allows name resolves to time-out slow operations using `alarm()` and `siglongjmp()`. When doing this, libcurl used a global buffer that was not mutex protected and a multi-threaded application might therefore crash or otherwise misbehave.

A use after free vulnerability exists in curl <v8.1.0 in the way libcurl offers a feature to verify an SSH server's public key using a SHA 256 hash. When this check fails, libcurl would free the memory for the fingerprint before it returns an error message containing the (now freed) hash. This flaw risks inserting sensitive heap-based data into the error message that might be shown to users or otherwise get leaked and revealed.

A path traversal vulnerability exists in curl <8.0.0 SFTP implementation causes the tilde (~) character to be wrongly replaced when used as a prefix in the first path element, in addition to its intended use as the first element to indicate a path relative to the user's home directory. Attackers can exploit this flaw to bypass filtering or execute arbitrary code by crafting a path like /~2/foo while accessing a server with a specific user.

A vulnerability in input validation exists in curl <8.0 during communication using the TELNET protocol may allow an attacker to pass on maliciously crafted user name and "telnet options" during server negotiation. The lack of proper input scrubbing allows an attacker to send content or perform option negotiation without the application's intent. This vulnerability could be exploited if an application allows user input, thereby enabling attackers to execute arbitrary code on the system.

An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability exists in curl <v7.88.0 based on the "chained" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning that a server response can be compressed multiple times and potentially with differentalgorithms. The number of acceptable "links" in this "decompression chain" wascapped, but the cap was implemented on a per-header basis allowing a maliciousserver to insert a virtually unlimited number of compression steps simply byusing many headers. The use of such a decompression chain could result in a "malloc bomb", making curl end up spending enormous amounts of allocated heap memory, or trying to and returning out of memory errors.

A cleartext transmission of sensitive information vulnerability exists in curl <v7.88.0 that could cause HSTS functionality to behave incorrectly when multiple URLs are requested in parallel. Using its HSTS support, curl can be instructed to use HTTPS instead of using an insecure clear-text HTTP step even when HTTP is provided in the URL. This HSTS mechanism would however surprisingly fail when multiple transfers are done in parallel as the HSTS cache file gets overwritten by the most recentlycompleted transfer. A later HTTP-only transfer to the earlier host name would then *not* get upgraded properly to HSTS.

A cleartext transmission of sensitive information vulnerability exists in curl <v7.88.0 that could cause HSTS functionality fail when multiple URLs are requested serially. Using its HSTS support, curl can be instructed to use HTTPS instead of usingan insecure clear-text HTTP step even when HTTP is provided in the URL. ThisHSTS mechanism would however surprisingly be ignored by subsequent transferswhen done on the same command line because the state would not be properlycarried on.

A use after free vulnerability exists in curl <7.87.0. Curl can be asked to *tunnel* virtually all protocols it supports through an HTTP proxy. HTTP proxies can (and often do) deny such tunnel operations. When getting denied to tunnel the specific protocols SMB or TELNET, curl would use a heap-allocated struct after it had been freed, in its transfer shutdown code path.

A vulnerability exists in curl <7.87.0 HSTS check that could be bypassed to trick it to keep using HTTP. Using its HSTS support, curl can be instructed to use HTTPS instead of using an insecure clear-text HTTP step even when HTTP is provided in the URL. However, the HSTS mechanism could be bypassed if the host name in the given URL first uses IDN characters that get replaced to ASCII counterparts as part of the IDN conversion. Like using the character UTF-8 U+3002 (IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP) instead of the common ASCII full stop (U+002E) `.`. Then in a subsequent request, it does not detect the HSTS state and makes a clear text transfer. Because it would store the info IDN encoded but look for it IDN decoded.

curl can be told to parse a `.netrc` file for credentials. If that file endsin a line with 4095 consecutive non-white space letters and no newline, curlwould first read past the end of the stack-based buffer, and if the readworks, write a zero byte beyond its boundary.This will in most cases cause a segfault or similar, but circumstances might also cause different outcomes.If a malicious user can provide a custom netrc file to an application or otherwise affect its contents, this flaw could be used as denial-of-service.

When doing HTTP(S) transfers, libcurl might erroneously use the read callback (`CURLOPT_READFUNCTION`) to ask for data to send, even when the `CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS` option has been set, if the same handle previously was used to issue a `PUT` request which used that callback. This flaw may surprise the application and cause it to misbehave and either send off the wrong data or use memory after free or similar in the subsequent `POST` request. The problem exists in the logic for a reused handle when it is changed from a PUT to a POST.

curl before 7.86.0 has a double free. If curl is told to use an HTTP proxy for a transfer with a non-HTTP(S) URL, it sets up the connection to the remote server by issuing a CONNECT request to the proxy, and then tunnels the rest of the protocol through. An HTTP proxy might refuse this request (HTTP proxies often only allow outgoing connections to specific port numbers, like 443 for HTTPS) and instead return a non-200 status code to the client. Due to flaws in the error/cleanup handling, this could trigger a double free in curl if one of the following schemes were used in the URL for the transfer: dict, gopher, gophers, ldap, ldaps, rtmp, rtmps, or telnet. The earliest affected version is 7.77.0.

In curl before 7.86.0, the HSTS check could be bypassed to trick it into staying with HTTP. Using its HSTS support, curl can be instructed to use HTTPS directly (instead of using an insecure cleartext HTTP step) even when HTTP is provided in the URL. This mechanism could be bypassed if the host name in the given URL uses IDN characters that get replaced with ASCII counterparts as part of the IDN conversion, e.g., using the character UTF-8 U+3002 (IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP) instead of the common ASCII full stop of U+002E (.). The earliest affected version is 7.77.0 2021-05-26.