CVE-2023-45290 is a medium severity vulnerability affecting the parsing mechanism of multipart forms in Go applications. This vulnerability allows for the allocation of arbitrarily large amounts of memory when handling maliciously crafted input with excessively long lines. As a result, it can lead to memory exhaustion, disrupting service availability and impacting application performance. The vulnerability was published on March 5, 2024, and organizations using affected versions of Go are urged to prioritize remediation.
The CVSS 3.1 score for this vulnerability is 6.5, categorized as medium severity, indicating a significant risk to organizations that do not address it. The potential for exploitation is notable, as attackers can leverage this flaw to cause denial of service conditions through memory exhaustion, adversely affecting application availability. Organizations should assess their use of the affected parsing functions and implement necessary fixes or workarounds as soon as possible.
With the recent fix, the ParseMultipartForm function now correctly limits the maximum size of form lines, mitigating the vulnerability. Organizations are strongly advised to apply this fix immediately to prevent potential service disruptions and maintain operational integrity.
This vulnerability highlights the importance of rigorous input validation and memory management practices in application development. Organizations should ensure that their development teams are aware of similar vulnerabilities and implement strategies to prevent such issues in the future.
The urgency for defenders is high, and organizations should address this vulnerability in their priority patch cycle.
Vulnerability Details
The official description of CVE-2023-45290 states that limits on the total size of the parsed form were not applied to the memory consumed while reading a single form line. This permits a maliciously crafted input containing very long lines to cause allocation of arbitrarily large amounts of memory, potentially leading to memory exhaustion. The vulnerability has been classified under CWE-770.
As per the CVSS score of 6.5, the impact on availability is rated as high. The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity, requiring low privileges and no user interaction. This increases the likelihood of exploitation, necessitating immediate action.
Technical Analysis
The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the insufficient handling of memory limits when processing multipart form data. Attackers can exploit this by sending a crafted request containing excessively long lines that exceed normal processing limits. The attack vector is through a network, making it accessible to any attacker with the capability to send HTTP requests.
The attack complexity is low, as it does not require sophisticated techniques to exploit. Privileges required are low, meaning that an attacker does not need a high level of access to exploit this vulnerability effectively. User interaction is not required, which further facilitates exploitation.
This vulnerability has no confidentiality or integrity impact; however, it significantly affects availability due to potential memory exhaustion. Organizations must monitor for unusual memory consumption patterns to detect possible exploitation.
Risk & Impact Analysis
The risk to organizations includes potential service disruptions, as memory exhaustion can lead to outages in applications relying on the affected multipart form parsing function. The blast radius for exploitation could vary widely, affecting any service utilizing this parsing mechanism, thereby increasing operational risks.
Due to its medium severity rating and the potential for significant availability impact, organizations should prioritize remediation of this vulnerability. Implementing the fix ensures that the application can handle multipart form data securely without risking memory exhaustion.
Based on the CVSS scoring, the urgency assessment indicates that organizations should address this vulnerability in their priority patch cycle. A proactive approach to vulnerability management will help mitigate the risks associated with this flaw.
Exploitation Status
Signal | Status |
|---|---|
Known Exploit | No |
Public PoC | No |
Actively Exploited | No |
Ransomware Use | No |
Affected Versions
As the vendor has not specified affected versions, it is prudent to state: All versions prior to vendor patch.
Mitigation & Remediation
Organizations should apply the latest patches released by the Go team to remediate this vulnerability. This includes updating to Go 1.22.1 or newer versions where the fix has been implemented.
In addition to applying patches, organizations can enhance their security posture by implementing additional safeguards such as input validation and memory management practices in their applications.
Security testing can be employed to assess the effectiveness of implemented fixes and identify any remaining vulnerabilities.
Detection Guidance
Organizations should monitor logs for indicators of memory exhaustion and unusual request patterns that may signify attempts to exploit this vulnerability. Behavioral anomalies in application performance should also be tracked to identify potential exploitation.
Establishing network signatures to detect abnormal multipart form submissions can aid in early detection and response.
AppSecure Threat Intelligence Insight
CVE-2023-45290 underscores the critical need for developers to be vigilant about input validation and memory management. As applications increasingly handle complex multipart data, ensuring robust limits on memory allocation becomes paramount.
This vulnerability may represent a growing trend of memory exhaustion issues in web applications, highlighting the need for ongoing security assessments and updates. Security teams should prioritize learning from this incident to develop more resilient applications.
To further strengthen defenses, organizations are encouraged to consult resources on best practices for secure coding, including secure coding practices and conduct regular security training for development teams.
Lastly, organizations should consider engaging with expert services to conduct comprehensive assessments, including application security assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities in their systems.
Additionally, leveraging red teaming services can provide insights into existing weaknesses and assist in fortifying defenses against future exploits.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
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