urllib3 is an HTTP client library for Python. urllib3's streaming API is designed for the efficient handling of large HTTP responses by reading the content in chunks, rather than loading the entire response body into memory at once. urllib3 can perform decoding or decompression based on the HTTP Content-Encoding header (e.g., gzip, deflate, br, or zstd). When using the streaming API, the library decompresses only the necessary bytes, enabling partial content consumption. Starting in version 1.22 and prior to version 2.6.3, for HTTP redirect responses, the library would read the entire response body to drain the connection and decompress the content unnecessarily. This decompression occurred even before any read methods were called, and configured read limits did not restrict the amount of decompressed data. As a result, there was no safeguard against decompression bombs. A malicious server could exploit this to trigger excessive resource consumption on the client. Applications and libraries are affected when they stream content from untrusted sources by setting preload_content=False when they do not disable redirects. Users should upgrade to at least urllib3 v2.6.3, in which the library does not decode content of redirect responses when preload_content=False. If upgrading is not immediately possible, disable redirects by setting redirect=False for requests to untrusted source.
CVE-2026-21441
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
This high-severity CVE scores 7.5 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 2.9% (86th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). No GitHub Security Advisory CVSS is on record for this CVE.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.5
- EG Score
- 7.5HIGHmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 50EG Risk 50/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity75% × 45%The EG Score, 7.5 of 10.Exploitation2.9% × 40%FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.Automatability100% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: yes (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 2.9%
- EPSS %ILE
- 86th
- KEV
- Not listed
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 60 days if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
January 7, 2026
Last Modified
September 17, 2026
Advisory Details (10)
Auto-updated Jul 3, 2026Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:1086[SECURITY] [DLA 4446-1] python-urllib3 security update
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00017.htmlDecompression-bomb safeguards bypassed when following HTTP redirects (streaming API) · Advisory · urllib3/urllib3 · GitHub
https://github.com/urllib3/urllib3/security/advisories/GHSA-38jv-5279-wg99commit 8864ac407bba (urllib3/urllib3)
Patch available: urllib3/urllib3 2.6.3 (contains commit 8864ac407bba)
https://github.com/urllib3/urllib3/commit/8864ac407bba8607950025e0979c4c69bc7abc7bVendor Advisories for CVE-2026-21441(20)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2026:61628Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat AI Inference Server Model Optimization Tools 3.2.2 (CUDA)
- RHSA-2026:51357Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: satellite/iop-vulnerability-engine-rhel9 container image available as a Technology Preview
- RHSA-2026:44696Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: satellite/iop-advisor-engine-rhel9 container image available as a Technology Preview
- RHSA-2026:41928Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Containers
- RHSA-2026:33154Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Ceph Storage
- RHSA-2026:28441Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Openshift Mirror Registry v2.0.11
- RHSA-2026:28043Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1 (python-urllib3) security update
- RHSA-2026:25127Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Submariner v0.21 security fixes and container updates
- +12 more
Patch Availability(30)
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(10 across 10 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.20(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| py3-urllib3 | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.21(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| py3-urllib3 | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.22(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| py3-urllib3 | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.23(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| py3-urllib3 | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.24(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| py3-urllib3 | — |
| — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| python-urllib3 | 1.26.5-1~exp1, 1.26.5-1~exp1+deb11u1, 1.26.5-1~exp1+deb11u2 |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| python-urllib3 | 1.26.12-1, 1.26.12-1+deb12u1, 1.26.12-1+deb12u2 |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| python-urllib3 | 2.3.0-3 |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| python-urllib3 | 2.3.0-3, 2.5.0-1, 2.5.0-1.1 |
| — |
PyPI(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| urllib3 | 1.22 ... 2.6.2 (62 versions) |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(22)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Red HatRHSA-2026:0981IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:0981 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:0990IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:0990 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1038IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1038 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1041IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1041 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1042IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1042 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1086IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1086 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1087IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1087 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1088IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1088 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1089IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1089 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1166IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1166 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1168IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1168 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1176IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1176 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1224IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1224 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1226IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1226 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1239IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1239 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1240IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1240 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1241IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1241 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1254IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1254 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1485IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1485 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1504IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1504 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1546IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1546 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:1596IMPORTANT2026-01-07
RHSA-2026:1596 — Important
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 12× in last 7d / 34× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 99 of 263 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 1 repeat row among the latest 100 is merged into the row it repeats. The 164 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-14 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-13 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-12 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-12 16:23 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 20:04 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 17:18 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 14:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-10 19:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-09 20:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-08 17:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-07 06:24 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-06 15:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-05 17:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-04 23:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.9% · 86th percentile
- 2026-10-01 19:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-30 15:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-29 15:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-28 13:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-27 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-26 15:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-26 00:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-18 19:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
Show 74 moreShow fewer
- 2026-09-17 12:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-17 12:12 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 14:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-16 12:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-16 12:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-15 12:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-15 12:14 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-15 12:14 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 12:36 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-14 12:36 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 16:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-12 15:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-11 14:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-11 13:25 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-11 12:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-11 12:26 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-10 13:23 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-10 12:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-10 12:29 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-10 09:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-09 12:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-09 12:41 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-08 22:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-07 16:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-07 14:07 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-07 14:07 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.0% · 86th percentile
- 2026-09-04 12:27 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-04 12:27 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-09-03 12:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-03 12:29 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-02 14:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-09-02 13:43 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-02 12:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-02 12:39 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-01 13:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-09-01 13:53 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-01 12:25 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-01 12:25 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-01 04:39 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-08-31 13:37 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-31 12:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-31 12:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-08-28 21:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-08-28 16:48 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-28 16:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-28 16:01 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-08-27 13:03 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-26 16:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-26 16:12 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.8% · 85th percentile
- 2026-08-26 12:23 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-26 12:23 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.7% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-25 13:26 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 12:23 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-25 12:23 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 13:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 12:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-24 12:28 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.7% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.7% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-21 12:33 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-21 12:33 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.7% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-20 13:59 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-20 12:46 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-20 12:46 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-19 17:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.7% · 84th percentile
Related CVEs(same product + same vendor + same CWE)
Same product
10 shownAlpine:v3.20:py3-urllib3 · Alpine:v3.23:py3-urllib3 · Debian:11:python-urllib3
Same vendor
10 shownredhat:RHSA-2026:0981 · redhat:RHSA-2026:0990 · redhat:RHSA-2026:10184
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-21441?
When was the CVE record for CVE-2026-21441 published?
Is CVE-2026-21441 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-21441?
How do I remediate CVE-2026-21441?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-21441
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-21441?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.