Description
The AsyncHttpClient (AHC) library allows Java applications to easily execute HTTP requests and asynchronously process HTTP responses. From 2.0.0 until 2.16.1 and 3.0.12, automatic response decompression on the HTTP/1.1 path uses ChannelManager.newHttpContentDecompressor() to install Http1ContentDecompressor without a cumulative output-size limit. A hostile or compromised server, or an attacker who can alter a response in transit, can send a small gzip, deflate, or snappy response that expands across chunks until the client exhausts its heap and raises OutOfMemoryError; brotli and zstd are also affected when their optional codecs are present. In versions 3.0.8 through 3.0.10, the HTTP/2 decompressor is also unbounded, so switching protocols does not mitigate the issue on those releases. A limit applied to each decode call is insufficient because the response can be delivered as many small chunks, so the fixed implementation tracks total decompressed bytes for the whole response. This issue is fixed in versions 2.16.1 and 3.0.12.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| AsyncHttpClient | async-http-client | >= 2.0.0, < 2.16.1, >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.12 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12 | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | async-http-client | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | apache-pulsar-4.2 | 4.2.4-r4 | — |
| Wolfi rolling | druid | 37.0.0-r58 | — |
| Wolfi rolling | tez | 0.10.5-r31 | — |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
GitHub 1 repository
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xiaoqiMikko/async-http-client-check ★ 0 · Sep 19, 2026
CVE-2026-85721: offline checker for org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client against all 26 repository-level advisories. 3.x is fixed in 3.0.14. The 2.x line is end of life - its last release 2.16.1 is …
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maven | org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client | >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.12 | 3.0.12 | GHSA-7grg-jcf7-rpmx |
| Maven | org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client | >= 2.0.0, < 2.16.1 | 2.16.1 | GHSA-7grg-jcf7-rpmx |
References
- https://github.com/AsyncHttpClient/async-http-client/security/advisories/GHSA-7grg-jcf7-rpmx
- https://github.com/AsyncHttpClient/async-http-client/commit/5ee2841cbf268bba4a200578be3938ccfc6cc6d6
- https://github.com/AsyncHttpClient/async-http-client/commit/663a1a91757904b22cfe37e2e6049f1f8ea6ae59
- https://github.com/AsyncHttpClient/async-http-client/commit/e1871a19972fb496be1b8ac6be11d79e22ff2162
- https://github.com/AsyncHttpClient/async-http-client/commit/e9f2f7423e0f6503f529656f2955a1317e56ba14