CVE-2026-71848
Received Received - Intake

Hono Framework LanguageDetector DoS via Hyphenated Tags

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-71848, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-08-07

Last updated on: 2026-08-07

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

Hono is a Web application framework that provides support for any JavaScript runtime. From 4.12.0 to 4.12.33, the languageDetector middleware is vulnerable to algorithmic complexity denial of service when processing a crafted language tag containing a large number of hyphen separated subtags. To implement progressive language tag truncation, normalizeLanguage() repeatedly calls parts.slice(0, i).join('-') for every possible prefix, so the total amount of string processing grows quadratically with the number of subtags. Language values may come from a query parameter, cookie, Accept-Language header, or URL path, depending on the detector configuration, and the default detector order enables query string, cookie, and header detection, so applications using languageDetector() may expose this processing to unauthenticated requests. An attacker may repeatedly send requests containing long, hyphen separated language tags, causing excessive CPU consumption and preventing unrelated requests from being processed. This issue is fixed in version 4.12.34.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-07
Last Modified
2026-08-07
Generated
2026-08-07
AI Q&A
2026-08-07
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
honojs hono to 4.12.34 (exc)
honojs hono 4.12.34

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-407 An algorithm in a product has an inefficient worst-case computational complexity that may be detrimental to system performance and can be triggered by an attacker, typically using crafted manipulations that ensure that the worst case is being reached.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is an algorithmic complexity denial of service (DoS) in Hono's languageDetector middleware affecting versions 4.12.0 to 4.12.33. When processing a crafted language tag with many hyphen-separated subtags, the normalizeLanguage() function repeatedly reconstructs shorter prefixes, causing quadratic growth in string operations. This leads to excessive CPU consumption and can block the event loop.

Detection Guidance

Monitor for unusually high CPU usage or slow request processing, particularly when requests contain long hyphen-separated language tags in query parameters, cookies, or Accept-Language headers. Check server logs for repeated requests with malformed language tags.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could send requests with long, hyphenated language tags to consume excessive CPU resources. This may slow down or crash the server, preventing other requests from being processed. The impact depends on runtime limits, reverse-proxy settings, and detector configurations.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could indirectly impact compliance with GDPR or HIPAA by causing service disruptions due to excessive CPU consumption from DoS attacks. Unavailability of services may lead to breaches of availability requirements under these regulations.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Hono to version 4.12.34 or later to address the vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, disable the languageDetector middleware or implement input validation to reject excessively long language tags.

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