UNKNOWN PyPI

tornado: multipart split() creates huge temp list before max_parts check -> memory amplification DoS (httputil.py:34)

GHSA-8423-8fgw-73vq · CVE-2026-91990

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Description

Description

Summary

parse_multipart_form_data (httputil.py:34) calls
data.split(b"--"+boundary+b"\r\n") before the max_parts check (:35).
A 600KB body with 100k parts creates a 100k-element transient list first,
then rejects transient memory amplification (each split element is a copy).
Pre-auth HTTP DoS.

Root cause

parts = data[:final_boundary_index].split(b"--" + boundary + b"\r\n")  # :34  huge list first
if len(parts) > config.max_parts:                                       # :35  check after
    raise HTTPInputError("multipart/form-data has too many parts")

PoC

gist: https://gist.github.com/afldl/649861f25d39b53b7edbe0298e171617
poc.py + output.txt (100k parts from 600KB transient list).

Fix

Count separators without materializing the list (e.g. data.count(b"--"+boundary) first).

Credit

Reported by afldl, 2026-07.

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