NumberInput.looksLikeValidNumber() in FasterXML jackson-core pre-validates stringified numbers with two regular expressions: PATTERN_FLOAT ([+-]?[0-9][.]?[0-9]+([eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?), present since 2.17.0, and PATTERN_FLOAT_TRAILING_DOT, added in 2.17.2. PATTERN_FLOAT places adjacent quantifiers over the same character class – an optional [0-9] run, an optional dot, then a required [0-9]+ run – so input that ultimately fails to match forces Javas backtracking engine to retry every possible split point of the digit run.
Matching cost therefore grows with the square of the input length.
An attacker who can supply JSON that an application deserializes into a numeric target type reaches this method through jackson-databinds default String-to-number coercion (StdDeserializer and NumberDeserializers for BigDecimal, BigInteger, Double and Float).
Because StreamReadConstraints.maxStringLength defaults to 20,000,000 characters, no constraint bounds the input before it reaches the regex.
Testing by the reporter confirmed O(n^2) growth across five consecutive input-size doublings, with a single 160,000-character string consuming roughly 74 seconds in one call; a small number of concurrent requests of ordinary body size can therefore exhaust a servers request-handling thread pool.
The affected method does not exist before 2.17.0, so 2.16.x and earlier releases are not affected.
The fix replaces both regular expressions with a hand-rolled single-pass scan.
Weakness
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
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://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core/issues/1649
- https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core/pull/1650
- https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core/pull/1701
- https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core/security/advisories/GHSA-p6pp-m3f8-5c89
- https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core/security/advisories/GHSA-p6pp-m3f8-5c89