CVE-2025-55152
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows attackers to cause denial of service by sending specially crafted x-forwarded-proto or x-forwarded-for headers to oak servers. It affects oak framework users running versions 17.1.5 and below across multiple platforms including Deno, Node.js, Cloudflare Workers, and Bun. The attack can significantly slow down server performance without requiring authentication.
💻 Affected Systems
- oak middleware framework
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete server unavailability due to resource exhaustion, leading to sustained denial of service for all users.
Likely Case
Degraded server performance and increased response times affecting user experience and application functionality.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper header validation and rate limiting in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only HTTP header manipulation, making it accessible to attackers with basic knowledge.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 17.1.6 and above
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/oakserver/oak/security/advisories/GHSA-r3v7-pc4g-7xp9
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update oak dependency to version 17.1.6 or higher. 2. Update package.json or deno.json to specify new version. 3. Restart the application server. 4. Verify the update with version check.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Header validation middleware
allAdd custom middleware to validate or sanitize x-forwarded-proto and x-forwarded-for headers before oak processes them.
// Example for Deno/Node.js: app.use(async (ctx, next) => { const proto = ctx.request.headers.get('x-forwarded-proto'); if (proto && !['http', 'https'].includes(proto)) { ctx.throw(400); } await next(); })
Rate limiting
allImplement rate limiting to prevent excessive header manipulation attempts from single sources.
// Use oak-rate-limit or similar middleware to limit requests per IP
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement reverse proxy with header sanitization to filter malicious headers before they reach oak.
- Deploy WAF rules to block requests with suspicious x-forwarded header patterns.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check oak version in package.json, deno.json, or via runtime: console.log(oak.version) or similar.Check Version:
deno info oak (for Deno) or npm list oak (for Node.js)Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm oak version is 17.1.6+ and test with crafted headers to ensure no performance degradation.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusually high response times
- Increased CPU/memory usage patterns
- Requests with malformed x-forwarded headers
Network Indicators:
- Spike in HTTP requests with x-forwarded headers
- Abnormal traffic patterns from single IPs
SIEM Query:
source=web_logs (x-forwarded-proto OR x-forwarded-for) AND response_time > 5000ms