CVE-2026-55458caddyserver caddy HTTP request smuggling
CVE-2026-55458 is a HTTP request smuggling in caddyserver caddy, rated low (2.9 on CVSS 4.0).
Why this priority: Low severity, with no exploitation signal.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Received
What it is
A proxy and the server behind it disagree on where a request ends, so an attacker can slip a second request past the proxy.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything. Success also depends on conditions the attacker does not fully control.
What an attacker gains
The direct impact is limited: partial access to data or a partial outage. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker smuggle requests past the proxy's checks.
Is it being exploited?
CISA's SSVC assessment notes a public proof of concept.
What to do
- Upgrade caddyserver caddy to 2.11.5 or later.
- Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
Description from NVD
Caddy is an extensible server platform that uses TLS by default. Prior to 2.11.5, the reverse proxy's finalizeResponse method in modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/reverseproxy.go handles an upstream 101 Switching Protocols response before running removeConnectionHeaders and the hopHeaders deletion loop used for ordinary responses. The early return invokes handleUpgradeResponse, which copies the upstream headers to the client and normalizes only WebSocket-specific header names. An attacker who controls or compromises a proxied WebSocket upstream can therefore cause hop-by-hop headers such as Alt-Svc, Keep-Alive, and Proxy-Authenticate, as well as headers named by Connection, to cross the proxy boundary. For HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 extended CONNECT, the upstream 101 response may be represented to the client as an ordinary successful response, increasing the chance that leaked headers are processed. This issue is fixed in version 2.11.5.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Proxies, load balancers and the servers behind them. The flaw sits between a front-end proxy and its back end.
Trust boundaries in play
- Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
- Between a front-end proxy and its back end. An attacker who crosses it can smuggle requests past the proxy's checks.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does caddyserver caddy run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.