Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-0040

Asynchttpclient Project Async-Http-Client ≤ 1.4.1

Published
18 January 2023
Modified
03 April 2025
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0055 43th percentile
Risk Priority 58 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-0040 is a high-severity CRLF Injection (CWE-93) vulnerability in Asynchttpclient Project Async-Http-Client. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 43th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Versions of Async HTTP Client prior to 1.13.2 are vulnerable to a form of targeted request manipulation called CRLF injection. This vulnerability was the result of insufficient validation of HTTP header field values before sending them to the network. Users…

more

are vulnerable if they pass untrusted data into HTTP header field values without prior sanitisation. Common use-cases here might be to place usernames from a database into HTTP header fields. This vulnerability allows attackers to inject new HTTP header fields, or entirely new requests, into the data stream. This can cause requests to be understood very differently by the remote server than was intended. In general, this is unlikely to result in data disclosure, but it can result in a number of logical errors and other misbehaviours.

CWE(s)
CWE-93CWE-74

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1221 Template Injection Stealth
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
T1674 Input Injection Execution
Adversaries may simulate keystrokes on a victim’s computer by various means to perform any type of action on behalf of the user, such as launching the command interpreter using keyboard shortcuts, typing an inline script to be executed,…
attack.mitre.org →
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-26138Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2025-14531Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2023-26148Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2024-5193Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2024-45302Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2023-23936Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2023-4767Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2024-40324Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2024-32986Shared CWE-74, CWE-93
CVE-2023-23749Shared CWE-74

Affected Assets

asynchttpclient project
async-http-client
≤ 1.4.1 · 1.5.0 — 1.9.1 · 1.10.0 — 1.12.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation
addresses: CWE-74

Developer assessments and testing (including injection-focused techniques) identify improper neutralization of special elements, and the verifiable flaw remediation corrects them pre-deployment.

SI-4 System Monitoring
addresses: CWE-74

Identifies indicators of injection attacks (command, SQL, LDAP, etc.) via anomaly and attack monitoring.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input neutralization and validation to block CRLF injection.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect CRLF flaws but does not itself implement the neutralization.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.

A.8.16 Monitoring activities partial match
finds

Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and output encoding that directly prevents CRLF injection.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include rules for neutralizing special characters such as CRLF in inputs.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage safe handling of untrusted data but do not prescribe specific CRLF controls.

References