Description
A flaw was found in BusyBox. When the HTTP daemon (httpd) has pre-compressed file support enabled, authentication checks are evaluated only against the requested URL path rather than the pre-compressed file being served. A remote attacker can exploit this flaw by requesting an uncompressed file path while specifying gzip encoding, bypassing password rules configured specifically for the compressed file. This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized information disclosure of sensitive files.
Published: 2026-11-11
Score: 5.3 Medium
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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Remediation

Vendor Workaround

To mitigate this vulnerability without modifying binary features, apply one of the following configuration measures: 1. Configure directory-level authentication: In the BusyBox `httpd.conf` configuration file, define authentication rules covering the containing directory rather than individual file paths. Directory rules are evaluated against both the base request and served compressed variants. 2. Protect base filenames: When individual file protection is necessary, configure password rules for both the uncompressed filename and the `.gz` filename (for example, applying the directive to both `/secret.txt` and `/secret.txt.gz`). 3. Restrict service access: Restrict network reachability to the BusyBox httpd daemon using local firewall rules if remote access is not required. Warning: Applying changes to httpd.conf requires restarting or reloading the BusyBox httpd process, which will temporarily terminate active network sessions.

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History

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in BusyBox. When the HTTP daemon (httpd) has pre-compressed file support enabled, authentication checks are evaluated only against the requested URL path rather than the pre-compressed file being served. A remote attacker can exploit this flaw by requesting an uncompressed file path while specifying gzip encoding, bypassing password rules configured specifically for the compressed file. This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized information disclosure of sensitive files.
Title Busybox: httpd password rule bypass for pre-compressed .gz files via accept-encoding: gzip
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat hummingbird
Redhat rhel Els
Weaknesses CWE-288
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:hummingbird:1
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:6
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat hummingbird
Redhat rhel Els
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N'}


Subscriptions

Redhat Hummingbird Rhel Els
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-11-11T11:19:49.225Z

Reserved: 2026-11-09T11:36:29.478Z

Link: CVE-2026-124738

cve-icon Vulnrichment

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cve-icon NVD

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cve-icon Redhat

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cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

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Weaknesses