CVE-2021-29509
mediumpriority · track · 31EPSS 0.016 · 76 %ileEURUUSEPSS · scored 2026-10-27
Puma is a concurrent HTTP 1.1 server for Ruby/Rack applications. The fix for CVE-2019-16770 was incomplete. The original fix only protected existing connections that had already been accepted from having their requests starved by greedy persistent-connections saturating all threads in the same process. However, new connections may still be starved by greedy persistent-connections saturating all threads in all processes in the cluster. A `puma` server which received more concurrent `keep-alive` connections than the server had threads in its threadpool would service only a subset of connections, denying service to the unserved connections. This problem has been fixed in `puma` 4.3.8 and 5.3.1. Setting `queue_requests false` also fixes the issue. This is not advised when using `puma` without a reverse proxy, such as `nginx` or `apache`, because you will open yourself to slow client attacks (e.g. slowloris). The fix is very small and a git patch is available for those using unsupported versions of Puma.
cvss
Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.
base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · medium–high · 5–7.5
weaknesses
The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.
affected products (10)
Products and version ranges known to be affected.
advisories (1)
Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.
- GHSA-q28m-8xjw-8vr5Puma's Keepalive Connections Causing Denial Of Service2021-05-18ghsa · osvUS
This vulnerability is related to [CVE-2019-16770](https://github.com/puma/puma/security/advisories/GHSA-7xx3-m584-x994). ### Impact The fix for CVE-2019-16770 was incomplete. The original fix only protected existing connections that had already been accepted from having their requests starved by greedy persistent-connections saturating all threads in the same process. However, new connections may still be starved by greedy persistent-connections saturating all threads in all processes in the cluster. A `puma` server which received more concurrent `keep-alive` connections than the server had threads in its threadpool would service only a subset of connections, denying service to the unserved connections. ### Patches This problem has been fixed in `puma` 4.3.8 and 5.3.1. ### Workarounds Setting `queue_requests false` also fixes the issue. This is not advised when using `puma` without a reverse proxy, such as `nginx` or `apache`, because you will open yourself to slow client attacks (e.g. [slowloris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowloris_(computer_security))). The fix is very small. [A git patch is available here](https://gist.github.com/nateberkopec/4b3ea5676c0d70cbb37c82d54be25837) for those using [unsupported versions](https://github.com/puma/puma/security/policy#supported-versions) of Puma. ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: * Open an issue in [Puma](https://github.com/puma/puma). * To report problems with this fix or to report another vulnerability, see [our security policy.](https://github.com/puma/puma/security/policy) ### Acknowledgements Thank you to @MSP-Greg, @wjordan and @evanphx for their review on this issue. Thank you to @ioquatix for providing a modified fork of `wrk` which made debugging this issue much easier.
also known as (4)
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sources
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references (24)
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://gist.github.com/nateberkopec/4b3ea5676c0d70cbb37c82d54be25837cnnvd
- https://github.com/puma/puma/security/advisories/GHSA-q28m-8xjw-8vr5cnnvd
- https://github.com/puma/puma/security/policycnnvd
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/08/msg00015.htmlcnnvd
- https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164991/Red-Hat-Security-Advisory-2021-4702-01.htmlcnnvd
- https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/168079/Gentoo-Linux-Security-Advisory-202208-28.htmlcnnvd
- https://rubygems.org/gems/pumacnnvd
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-28cnnvd
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