Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-4600

Google Application Load Balancer ≤ 2025-04-26

Published
16 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0020 9th percentile
Risk Priority 43 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-4600 is a high-severity HTTP Request/Response Smuggling (CWE-444) vulnerability in Google Application Load Balancer. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 9th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SC-7 (Boundary Protection) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A request smuggling vulnerability existed in the Google Cloud Classic Application Load Balancer due to improper handling of chunked-encoded HTTP requests. This allowed attackers to craft requests that could be misinterpreted by backend servers. The issue was fixed by disallowing…

more

stray data after a chunk, and is no longer exploitable. No action is required as Classic Application Load Balancer service after 2025-04-26 is not vulnerable.

CWE(s)

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.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-8912Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-2649Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-0020Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-9911Same vendor: Google
CVE-2025-36899Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-8577Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-13841Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-14016Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-13919Same vendor: Google
CVE-2026-3223Same vendor: Google

Affected Assets

google
application load balancer
≤ 2025-04-26

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)
  • V4.1.3
  • V4.2.4
  • V1.5.3
  • V4.1.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Boundary protection at external interfaces can enforce consistent HTTP request/response parsing rules between intermediaries and endpoints.

Validating HTTP inputs at the intermediary prevents malformed messages from being interpreted inconsistently downstream.

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-01 mostly match
prevents

Configuration management can enforce uniform HTTP parsing rules across intermediaries, directly mitigating inconsistent interpretation.

DE.CM-01 partial match
prevents

Network monitoring can detect smuggling attempts via anomalous HTTP traffic or logs, while eliminating the inconsistency directly aids detection of such events.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Network protections can enforce consistent HTTP proxy/firewall behavior to block smuggling, and removing the weakness helps prevent unauthorized access via request smuggling.

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.

finds

Security testing can detect HTTP request smuggling vulnerabilities in intermediary components.

degrades

Network security controls can enforce consistent HTTP parsing and proxy behavior that mitigates request smuggling.

degrades

Secure network services include hardening proxies and gateways against inconsistent HTTP interpretation.

prevents

Secure SDLC practices require threat modeling and testing for HTTP parsing inconsistencies in intermediaries.

prevents

Application security requirements can mandate strict HTTP message validation and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include consistent protocol handling and defense-in-depth for proxies.

References