# CVE-2026-71380: httpd applies no timeout while receiving a request body, parking a worker on a stalled client

> An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause denial of service in Erlang OTP inets httpd by stalling request bodies, exhausting worker threads.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 8 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-98478, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-71380, EEF-CVE-2026-71380, GHSA-5vp4-58hc-h8cc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-71380

## What is CVE-2026-71380?

CVE-2026-71380 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Erlang OTP, published on 1 Sep 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in Erlang/OTP inets httpd allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause denial of service by sending valid request headers with a large Content-Length and then stalling before the body is complete.

httpd_request_handler:handle_info/2 cancels the request timeout as soon as a parse step succeeds, which includes the headers, and the clause that handles a decoder asking for more data re-arms the socket with {active, once} without setting any further timer. httpd_request:whole_body/2 returns such a continuation whenever the bytes received are fewer than the announced Content-Length, so a well-formed request that stops mid-body leaves the worker waiting indefinitely. The periodic byte-rate check that would reclaim it is armed only when minimum_bytes_per_second is configured, which it is not by default. Repeating this across connections occupies every worker permitted by max_clients and denies service to legitimate clients at negligible bandwidth cost.

This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 27.3.4.17, from OTP 28.0 before OTP 28.5.0.6, and from OTP 29.0 before OTP 29.0.6, corresponding to inets from 5.10 before 9.3.2.7, from 9.4 before 9.6.2.3, and from 9.7 before 9.7.2. Whether OTP before OTP 17.0, corresponding to inets before 5.10, is affected is unknown.

Weakness: CWE-772 (Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-71380?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-71380?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-71380 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71380 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-71380 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-71380 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Erlang OTP, published on 1 Sep 2026. 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-2026-71380 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Erlang OTP. 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-2026-71380/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71380/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71380
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71380
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-71380

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71380/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.