GHSA-r5rp-j6wh-rvv4
Hono: Non-breaking space prefix bypass in cookie name handling in getCookie()
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
A discrepancy between browser cookie parsing and `parse()` handling allows cookie prefix protections to be bypassed.
Cookie names that are treated as distinct by the browser may be normalized to the same key by `parse()`, allowing attacker-controlled cookies to override legitimate ones.
## Details
Browsers follow RFC 6265bis and only trim SP (`0x20`) and HTAB (`0x09`) from cookie names. Other characters, such as the non-breaking space (`U+00A0`), are preserved as part of the cookie name.
For example, the browser treats the following cookies as distinct:
```
"dummy-cookie"
"\u00a0dummy-cookie"
```
However, `parse()` previously used JavaScript's `trim()`, which removes a broader set of characters including `U+00A0`. As a result, both names are normalized to:
```
"dummy-cookie"
```
This mismatch allows attacker-controlled cookies with a `U+00A0` prefix to shadow or override legitimate cookies when accessed via `getCookie()`.
## Impact
An attacker who can set cookies (e.g., via a man-in-the-middle on a non-secure page or other injection vector) can bypass cookie prefix protections and override sensitive cookies.
This may lead to:
* Bypassing `__Secure-` and `__Host-` prefix protections
* Overriding cookies that rely on the Secure attribute
* Session fixation or session hijacking depending on application usage
This issue affects applications that rely on `getCookie()` for security-sensitive cookie handling.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.