A Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability has been identified in the KnowledgeBaseWebReader class of the run-llama/llama_index project, affecting version ~ latest(v0.12.15). The vulnerability arises due to inappropriate secure coding measures, specifically the lack of proper implementation of the max_depth parameter in the get_article_urls function. This allows an attacker to exhaust Pythons recursion limit through repeated function calls, leading to resource consumption and ultimately crashing the Python process.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llamaindex | Llamaindex | * | 0.3.6 (excluding) |
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.