Vulnerabilities
Misconfiguration
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CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-45873

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Published: Nov 23, 2022 | Modified: Apr 25, 2025
CVSS 3.x
5.5
MEDIUM
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
5.5 MODERATE
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Ubuntu
MEDIUM
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Additional information
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-45873
CWEhttps://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/400.html

systemd 250 and 251 allows local users to achieve a systemd-coredump deadlock by triggering a crash that has a long backtrace. This occurs in parse_elf_object in shared/elf-util.c. The exploitation methodology is to crash a binary calling the same function recursively, and put it in a deeply nested directory to make its backtrace large enough to cause the deadlock. This must be done 16 times when MaxConnections=16 is set for the systemd/units/systemd-coredump.socket file.

Weakness

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

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
SystemdSystemd_project250 (including)251 (including)
SystemdSystemd_project252-rc1 (including)252-rc1 (including)
SystemdSystemd_project252-rc2 (including)252-rc2 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9RedHatsystemd-0:250-12.el9_1.3*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9RedHatsystemd-0:250-12.el9_1.3*
SystemdUbuntukinetic*
SystemdUbuntutrusty*
SystemdUbuntuupstream*
SystemdUbuntuxenial*

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

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