CVE-2026-22903

9.8 CRITICAL

Published 2026-02-09 · Modified 2026-02-09 · Awaiting Analysis

Quick Summary

A critical vulnerability in a modified version of the lighttpd web server allows an unauthenticated attacker on the network to crash the server or potentially take control of it by sending a specially crafted web request with a very long session cookie.

Who is affected

This affects systems running the vulnerable version of lighttpd. An attacker could cause a denial of service or execute arbitrary code on the server, compromising it completely.

Recommended fix

Apply the vendor-provided patch immediately. If a patch is not available, consider implementing a web application firewall (WAF) rule to block excessively long SESSIONID cookies as a temporary mitigation.

Technical Description

An unauthenticated remote attacker can send a crafted HTTP request containing an overly long SESSIONID cookie. This can trigger a stack buffer overflow in the modified lighttpd server, causing it to crash and potentially enabling remote code execution due to missing stack protections.

CVSS Details

Attack Vector

NETWORK

Complexity

LOW

CVSS Vector

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

CWE

CWE-121

References