Description

tornado: multipart split() creates huge temp list before max_parts check -> memory amplification DoS (httputil.py:34)

Description

Summary

parse_multipart_form_data (httputil.py:34) calls data.split(b"--"+boundary+b"\r\n") before the max_parts check (:35). A 600KB body with 100k parts creates a 100k-element transient list first, then rejects transient memory amplification (each split element is a copy). Pre-auth HTTP DoS.

Root cause

parts = data[:final_boundary_index].split(b"--" + boundary + b"\r\n")  # :34  huge list first
if len(parts) > config.max_parts:                                       # :35  check after
    raise HTTPInputError("multipart/form-data has too many parts")

PoC

gist: https://gist.github.com/afldl/649861f25d39b53b7edbe0298e171617 poc.py + output.txt (100k parts from 600KB transient list).

Fix

Count separators without materializing the list (e.g. data.count(b"--"+boundary) first).

Credit

Reported by afldl, 2026-07.

Mitigation

Aliases

References