CVE-2022-42916
Plain English Summary
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This vulnerability allows an attacker to trick curl into using an insecure HTTP connection instead of the intended secure HTTPS connection by manipulating the URL with special characters. This can happen when the URL includes international domain names that get converted to ASCII, making it possible for the attacker to bypass security checks designed to enforce HTTPS.
Technical Description
In curl before 7.86.0, the HSTS check could be bypassed to trick it into staying with HTTP. Using its HSTS support, curl can be instructed to use HTTPS directly (instead of using an insecure cleartext HTTP step) even when HTTP is provided in the URL. This mechanism could be bypassed if the host name in the given URL uses IDN characters that get replaced with ASCII counterparts as part of the IDN conversion, e.g., using the character UTF-8 U+3002 (IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP) instead of the common ASCII full stop of U+002E (.). The earliest affected version is 7.77.0 2021-05-26.
CVSS Vector Analysis
Vector String
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NExploit Resources
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Official References
Quick Information
Published
Oct 29, 2022
over 3 years ago
Last Modified
Feb 13, 2026
7 days ago
Vendor
haxx
Product
curl
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This vulnerability allows an attacker to potentially intercept sensitive information during data transfers because the curl tool may fail to upgrade certain HTTP requests to secure HTTPS when multiple requests are made at the same time. This issue occurs only when using curl versions prior to 7.88.0 and can lead to unprotected data being sent over the internet instead of the intended secure connection.
An attacker can trick curl into using an insecure HTTP connection instead of the intended secure HTTPS by manipulating the URL with special characters that confuse the software's security checks. This vulnerability occurs when the URL contains IDN characters that are converted to ASCII, allowing the attacker to bypass the HSTS protection that should enforce secure connections.
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