CVE-2025-71031 in Melon
Summary
by MITRE • 02/04/2026
Water-Melon Melon commit 9df9292 and below is vulnerable to Denial of Service. The HTTP component doesn't have any maximum length. As a result, an excessive request header could cause a denial of service by consuming RAM memory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/26/2026
CVE-2025-71031 represents a critical denial of service vulnerability affecting the Water-Melon Melon HTTP component through commit 9df9292 and earlier versions. This vulnerability stems from the absence of any maximum length restrictions on HTTP request headers, creating a fundamental design flaw that directly impacts system resource management. The vulnerability falls under the category of insufficient input validation as classified by CWE-20, specifically manifesting as CWE-400 which deals with unchecked resource consumption. The absence of header length limits allows malicious actors to craft excessively long HTTP headers that can overwhelm system memory resources during request processing.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the HTTP parsing mechanism within the Water-Melon Melon framework by sending malformed requests containing headers that exceed normal operational parameters. When the system attempts to process these oversized headers, it allocates memory proportional to the header size without any bounds checking, leading to rapid memory consumption. This behavior constitutes a classic resource exhaustion attack pattern that can be executed with minimal computational overhead, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where system stability is paramount. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be classified under ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for resource exhaustion attacks.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-71031 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire system availability. An attacker can consume available RAM memory through carefully crafted requests, causing the application to crash or become unresponsive, effectively rendering the service unavailable to legitimate users. This vulnerability particularly affects systems where memory resources are limited or where multiple concurrent requests are processed, as the memory exhaustion can cascade into system-wide performance degradation. The attack vector requires only basic HTTP request construction capabilities, making it accessible to threat actors with minimal technical expertise.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2025-71031 should focus on implementing strict header length validation and memory allocation limits within the HTTP processing component. Organizations should configure maximum header size limits in their web server configurations and application frameworks to prevent excessive memory allocation during request processing. The recommended approach involves setting reasonable upper bounds on HTTP header lengths, typically ranging from 8KB to 64KB depending on system requirements and security posture. Additionally, implementing rate limiting and connection pooling mechanisms can help reduce the impact of sustained attack attempts. Regular security updates and patches should be deployed immediately upon availability, as this vulnerability represents a known weakness in the software's resource management capabilities that requires immediate remediation to maintain system integrity and availability.