AsyncHttpClient: Digest challenge without a usable nonce downgrades to Basic and sends the password in cleartext

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS 4.0

8.7 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N · score source

EPSS

• CVE-2026-107231: 0.24% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 14.81 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact A Digest challenge that does not yield a usable nonce is treated as a Basic challenge. The client then answers it with Authorization: Basic, which carries the username and password base64 encoded and so recoverable by anyone who sees the request. Any of these is enough, sent by whoever writes the 401 or 407: The challenge announces itself as Digest, so it passes the check that would otherwise reject a non-Digest challenge for a Digest realm. It then fails to produce a nonce, and the absence of a nonce is what selected Basic. A server offering plain Basic to a Digest realm gets nothing, so labelling the challenge Digest and leaving the nonce out is what makes the difference. This is reachable by anyone who can write the challenge: a malicious or compromised origin, a proxy, or an attacker on a plaintext hop. Digest exists precisely to keep the password off those hops. A server that stores only HA1, and anyone impersonating the real origin, does not otherwise learn the password…

Published by the source

8 Oct 2026, 16:23 UTC

Last modified by the source

8 Oct 2026, 16:30 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 16:58 UTC

1. Revision 3 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4

2. Revision 2 · amended · 25 Oct 2026

   Reviewed OSV alias/range/CVSS4 correction; package source scopes and original publication preserved. No customer finding resolved.

3. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-107231

Advisory: AsyncHttpClient: Digest challenge without a usable nonce downgrades to Basic and sends the password in cleartext
IDs: CVE-2026-107231, GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-107231 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 16:58 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.7)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client 3.0.13, 2.16.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Maven org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client: affected >= 3.0.0.Beta1, <= 3.0.12; >= 2.0.0, <= 2.16.0; fixed in 2.16.1, 3.0.13

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Maven org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4 (OSV record GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4 lists affected ranges: Maven org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client >=3.0.0.Beta1 =2.0.0 <2.16.1 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-rqf5-2wxv-rjf4 lists affected ranges: Maven org.asynchttpclient:async-http-client >=3.0.0.Beta1 =2.0.0 <=2.16.0)

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