Resource exhaustion in Tornadoweb Tornado

CVE-2025-67726

Tornado is a Python web framework and asynchronous networking library. Versions 6.5.2 and below use an inefficient algorithm when parsing parameters for HTTP header values, potentially causing a DoS. The _parseparam function in httputil.py is used to parse specific HTTP header values, such as those in multipart/form-data and repeatedly calls string.count() within a nested loop while processing quoted semicolons. If an attacker sends a request with a large number of maliciously crafted parameters in a Content-Disposition header, the server's CPU usage increases quadratically (O(n²)) during parsing. Due to Tornado's single event loop architecture, a single malicious request can cause the entire server to become unresponsive for an extended period. This issue is fixed in version 6.5.3.

Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)

EPSS: 0.005 (43.6th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-67726?
CVE-2025-67726 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tornadoweb Tornado, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2025-12-12.
How severe is CVE-2025-67726?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.