Those using HtmlUnit to browse untrusted webpages may be vulnerable to Denial of service attacks (DoS). If HtmlUnit is running on user supplied web pages, an attacker may supply content that causes HtmlUnit to crash by a stack overflow. This effect may support a denial of service attack.This issue affects htmlunit before 2.70.0.
Weakness
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Htmlunit | Htmlunit | * | 2.70.0 (excluding) |
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes 1 on RHEL 8 | RedHat | com.google.guava-guava-parent | * |
| MTA-6.2-RHEL-9 | RedHat | mta/mta-operator-bundle:6.2.0-29 | * |
| Htmlunit | Ubuntu | bionic | * |
| Htmlunit | Ubuntu | trusty | * |
| Htmlunit | Ubuntu | xenial | * |
| Jenkins-htmlunit-core-js | Ubuntu | bionic | * |
| Jenkins-htmlunit-core-js | Ubuntu | focal | * |
| Jenkins-htmlunit-core-js | Ubuntu | trusty | * |
| Jenkins-htmlunit-core-js | Ubuntu | xenial | * |
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