# CVE-2024-45797: LibHTP's unbounded header handling leads to denial service

> Attackers can cause excessive CPU and memory usage in LibHTP by sending unbounded HTTP headers, leading to service slowdowns or denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 3 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2024-45797, GHSA-rqqp-24ch-248f, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-45797

## What is CVE-2024-45797?

CVE-2024-45797 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in OISF libhtp, published on 16 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

LibHTP is a security-aware parser for the HTTP protocol and the related bits and pieces. Prior to version 0.5.49, unbounded processing of HTTP request and response headers can lead to excessive CPU time and memory utilization, possibly leading to extreme slowdowns. This issue is addressed in 0.5.49.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-45797?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Oisf Libhtp.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-45797?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2024-45797 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-45797 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in OISF libhtp

- [CVE-2018-10243](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10243/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-53537](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-53537/): LibHTP's memory leak with lzma can lead to resource starvation (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2024-28871](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28871/): Excessive CPU used on malformed traffic (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2015-0928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-0928/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2019-17420](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17420/): Security feature bypass in n/a (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-45797 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-45797 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in OISF libhtp, published on 16 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-45797 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: OISF libhtp. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-45797/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-45797/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-45797
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-45797
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-45797

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-45797/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.