CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2017-14158

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Published: Sep 05, 2017 | Modified: Apr 20, 2025
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
7.8 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
LOW
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Scrapy 1.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via large files because arbitrarily many files are read into memory, which is especially problematic if the files are then individually written in a separate thread to a slow storage resource, as demonstrated by interaction between dataReceived (in core/downloader/handlers/http11.py) and S3FilesStore.

Weakness

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
ScrapyScrapy1.4 (including)1.4 (including)
Python-scrapyUbuntuartful*
Python-scrapyUbuntubionic*
Python-scrapyUbuntucosmic*
Python-scrapyUbuntudisco*
Python-scrapyUbuntueoan*
Python-scrapyUbuntufocal*
Python-scrapyUbuntugroovy*
Python-scrapyUbuntuhirsute*
Python-scrapyUbuntuimpish*
Python-scrapyUbuntukinetic*
Python-scrapyUbuntulunar*
Python-scrapyUbuntumantic*
Python-scrapyUbuntuoracular*
Python-scrapyUbuntuplucky*
Python-scrapyUbuntutrusty*
Python-scrapyUbuntuxenial*
Python-scrapyUbuntuzesty*

Potential Mitigations

  • Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:

  • The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.

  • The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.

References