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CVE-2026-34829

HIGH

Rack's multipart parsing without Content-Length header allows unbounded chunked file uploads

Published April 2, 2026Updated May 13, 2026Source: osv

Summary

## Summary `Rack::Multipart::Parser` only wraps the request body in a `BoundedIO` when `CONTENT_LENGTH` is present. When a `multipart/form-data` request is sent without a `Content-Length` header, such as with HTTP chunked transfer encoding, multipart parsing continues until end-of-stream with no total size limit. For file parts, the uploaded body is written directly to a temporary file on disk rather than being constrained by the buffered in-memory upload limit. An unauthenticated attacker can therefore stream an arbitrarily large multipart file upload and consume unbounded disk space. This results in a denial of service condition for Rack applications that accept multipart form data. ## Details `Rack::Multipart::Parser.parse` applies `BoundedIO` only when `content_length` is not `nil`: ```ruby io = BoundedIO.new(io, content_length) if content_length ``` When `CONTENT_LENGTH` is absent, the parser reads the multipart body until EOF without a global byte limit. Although Rack enforces `BUFFERED_UPLOAD_BYTESIZE_LIMIT` for retained non-file parts, file uploads are handled differently. When a multipart part includes a filename, the body is streamed to a `Tempfile`, and the retained-size accounting is not applied to that file content. As a result, file parts are not subject to the same upload size bound. An attacker can exploit this by sending a chunked `multipart/form-data` request containing a file part and continuously streaming data without declaring a `Content-Length`. Rack will continue writing the uploaded data to disk until the client stops or the server exhausts available storage. ## Impact Any Rack application that accepts `multipart/form-data` uploads may be affected if no upstream component enforces a request body size limit. An unauthenticated attacker can send a large chunked file upload to consume disk space on the application host. This may cause request failures, application instability, or broader service disruption if the host runs out of available storage. The practical impact depends on deployment architecture. Reverse proxies or application servers that enforce upload limits may reduce or eliminate exploitability, but Rack itself does not impose a total multipart upload limit in this code path when `CONTENT_LENGTH` is absent. ## Mitigation * Update to a patched version of Rack that enforces a total multipart upload size limit even when `CONTENT_LENGTH` is absent. * Enforce request body size limits at the reverse proxy or application server. * Isolate temporary upload storage and monitor disk consumption for multipart endpoints.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Bundler
Update rack to 2.2.23 or later
gem install rack -v 2.2.23
Bundler
Update rack to 3.2.6 or later
gem install rack -v 3.2.6
Bundler
Update rack to 3.1.21 or later
gem install rack -v 3.1.21

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (3)

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
rack
rubygems
0.1.0, 0.2.0, 0.3.0, 0.4.0 (+119 more)2.2.23
rack
rubygems
3.2.0, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3 (+2 more)3.2.6
rack
rubygems
3.0.0, 3.0.0.beta1, 3.0.0.rc1, 3.0.1 (+42 more)3.1.21

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

  • CWE-400
    Uncontrolled Resource ConsumptionMITRE
  • CWE-770
    Allocation of Resources Without LimitsMITRE

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 7.5 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-34829?
Rack's multipart parsing without Content-Length header allows unbounded chunked file uploads This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of HIGH (CVSS score: 7.5/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2026-34829?
CVE-2026-34829 affects rack. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2026-34829 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
7.5

High exploitability or significant impact. Prioritize remediation within days.

Also Known As

GHSA-8vqr-qjwx-82mw

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