Tornado: Incomplete fix for CVE-2026-35536: cookie attribute injection re-opened via the legacy case-insensitive `**kwargs` path in `set_cookie`
GHSA-wwv5-g3v4-889x · CVE-2026-91991
Published · Modified
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Description
Summary
The CVE-2026-35536 fix added a validation loop that rejects [\x00-\x20\x3b\x7f], but only for the
hardcoded lowercase keys name/domain/path/samesite. The still-live deprecated **kwargs path
writes attacker-supplied attribute values straight into the Morsel with no validation, and becauseMorsel.__setitem__ is case-insensitive, a capitalized kwarg (Domain=, Path=, SameSite=, Max-Age=)
routes to the same reserved attribute while bypassing the loop — re-opening ;-delimited attribute injection.
self.set_cookie("sid", "abc", Domain="evil.com; Secure; SameSite=None")
# -> Set-Cookie: sid=abc; Domain=evil.com; Secure; SameSite=None; Path=/
# Sanity (the canonical lowercase named arg IS blocked):
self.set_cookie("sid", "abc", domain="evil.com; Secure") # -> http.cookies.CookieError
The patch's regression test (SetCookieForbiddenCharHandler) only exercises the four named params, never the**kwargs path, so the gap is not regression-covered.
Affected code
tornado/web.py→RequestHandler.set_cookie: the validation loop covers only the lowercase named args;
the trailingif kwargs:loop doesmorsel[k] = vwith no character validation.
Steps to reproduce
GET /upper (uses Domain= kwarg) emits Set-Cookie: c_upper=v; Domain=evil.com; Secure; SameSite=None; Path=/; GET /lower (uses lowercasedomain=) returns a CookieError.
Impact
Injection of independent cookie attributes (force/drop Secure/HttpOnly/SameSite, rebind Domain/Path)
— the same impact CVE-2026-35536 closed, via the sibling path the patch missed. Conditional on the app using
a capitalized/legacy keyword.
Suggested remediation
Apply the same [\x00-\x20\x3b\x7f] validation to every entry in the **kwargs loop (after normalizing the
key case), or remove the deprecated kwargs path; add a regression test for capitalized kwargs.
Credit
Reported as part of an incomplete-patch measurement study (responsible disclosure).
References
- WEB https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/security/advisories/GHSA-wwv5-g3v4-889x
- WEB https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/pull/3704
- WEB https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/pull/3706
- WEB https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/commit/6ef836e43e1278530041376adb32504daa977b91
- WEB https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/commit/da284767eae8e1f0484f123b8c3225f6465b09c7
- PACKAGE https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado
- WEB https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/releases/tag/v6.5.8
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