CVE-2026-33241 — Vulnerability in salvo — CVE Details

## Summary Salvo's form data parsing implementations (`form_data()` method and `Extractible` macro) do not enforce payload size limits before reading request bodies into memory. This allows attackers to cause Out-of-Memory (OOM) conditions by sending extremely large payloads, leading to service crashes and denial of service. ## Details ### Vulnerability Description Three attack vectors exist in Salvo's form handling: 1. **URL-encoded form data** (`application/x-www-form-urlencoded`) - `Request::form_data()` calls `BodyExt::collect(body)` which reads the entire body into memory without size checking - Affects handlers using `req.form_data().await` directly 2. **Multipart form data** (`multipart/form-data`) - Similar unbounded memory allocation during parsing - Affects handlers processing multipart uploads 3. **Extractible macro** - `#[derive(Extractible)]` with `#[salvo(extract(default_source(from = "body")))]` internally calls `form_data()` - Vulnerabilities propagate to all extractors using body sources ### Root Cause The `FormData::read()` implementation prioritizes convenience over safety by reading entire request bodies before validation. Even when `Request::payload_with_max_size()` is available, it's not automatically applied in the form parsing path. ### PoC 1. run `Extract data from request` example in readme.md in docker file with limited memory say 100mb. 2. Send `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` OR `multipart/form-data` payload to the endpoint. 3. The server process OOM-crashes, instead of returning 413 error. ## Impact ### Immediate Effects - **Service Unavailability**: Servers crash under memory pressure - **Resource Exhaustion**: Single request can consume all available memory - **Cascading Failures**: In containerized environments, OOM can affect other services ### Attack Characteristics - **Low Cost**: Attacker needs minimal bandwidth (header only, body can be streamed) - **No Authentication**: Exploitable on public endpoints - **Difficult to Rate-Limit**: Traditional rate limiting may not prevent single large request - **Amplification**: Small network cost → large memory consumption ### Real-World Scenarios 1. Public API endpoints accepting form data 2. User registration/profile update handlers 3. File upload endpoints using multipart forms 4. Any endpoint using `#[derive(Extractible)]` with body sources ## Suggestion: Make Multipart File Upload Handling Explicit Opt-In ### Problem Statement Currently, Salvo's multipart form data parsing automatically handles file uploads without explicit developer intent. This creates several security and usability concerns: 1. **Unintended File Storage**: Developers may unknowingly accept file uploads when they only intended to handle text fields 2. **Disk Space Exhaustion**: Automatic file buffering to disk can fill storage without proper limits 3. **Resource Cleanup**: Temporary files may not be properly cleaned up if handlers don't expect them 4. **Attack Surface**: Endpoints inadvertently become file upload targets