CVE-2023-24534

HTTP and MIME header parsing can allocate large amounts of memory, even when parsing small inputs, potentially leading to a denial of service. Certain unusual patterns of input data can cause the common function used to parse HTTP and MIME headers to allocate substantially more memory than required to hold the parsed headers. An attacker can exploit this behavior to cause an HTTP server to allocate large amounts of memory from a small request, potentially leading to memory exhaustion and a denial of service. With fix, header parsing now correctly allocates only the memory required to hold parsed headers.

Weakness

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

Affected Software

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.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/147.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/227.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/492.html

References

• https://go.dev/cl/481994
• https://go.dev/issue/58975
• https://groups.google.com/g/golang-announce/c/Xdv6JL9ENs8
• https://pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2023-1704
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202311-09
• https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230526-0007/
• https://go.dev/cl/481994
• https://go.dev/issue/58975
• https://groups.google.com/g/golang-announce/c/Xdv6JL9ENs8
• https://pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2023-1704
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202311-09
• https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230526-0007/