Reading unbounded number of HTTP/2 CONTINUATION frames to cause excessive CPU usage
nghttp2 is an implementation of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 in C. The nghttp2 library prior to version 1.61.0 keeps reading the unbounded number of HTTP/2 CONTINUATION frames even after a stream is reset to keep HPACK context in sync. This causes excessive CPU usage to decode HPACK stream. nghttp2 v1.61.0 mitigates this vulnerability by limiting the number of CONTINUATION frames it accepts per stream. There is no workaround for this vulnerability.
The HTTP/2 protocol allows a denial of service (server resource consumption) because request cancellation can reset many streams quickly, as exploited in the wild in August through October 2023.
In nghttp2 before version 1.41.0, the overly large HTTP/2 SETTINGS frame payload causes denial of service. The proof of concept attack involves a malicious client constructing a SETTINGS frame with a length of 14,400 bytes (2400 individual settings entries) over and over again. The attack causes the CPU to spike at 100%. nghttp2 v1.41.0 fixes this vulnerability. There is a workaround to this vulnerability. Implement nghttp2_on_frame_recv_callback callback, and if received frame is SETTINGS frame and the number of settings entries are large (e.g., > 32), then drop the connection.