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Curl CVE-2023-38039

HIGH
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (CWE-770)
2023-09-15 support@hackerone.com
7.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

1
CVE Published
Sep 15, 2023 - 04:15 nvd
HIGH 7.5

DescriptionNVD

When curl retrieves an HTTP response, it stores the incoming headers so that they can be accessed later via the libcurl headers API.

However, curl did not have a limit in how many or how large headers it would accept in a response, allowing a malicious server to stream an endless series of headers and eventually cause curl to run out of heap memory.

AnalysisAI

When curl retrieves an HTTP response, it stores the incoming headers so that they can be accessed later via the libcurl headers API. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.

Technical ContextAI

This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. When curl retrieves an HTTP response, it stores the incoming headers so that they can be accessed later via the libcurl headers API. However, curl did not have a limit in how many or how large headers it would accept in a response, allowing a malicious server to stream an endless series of headers and eventually cause curl to run out of heap memory. Affected products include: Haxx Curl, Fedoraproject Fedora, Microsoft Windows 10 1809, Microsoft Windows 10 21H2, Microsoft Windows 10 22H2.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Set resource limits, implement rate limiting, validate input sizes.

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CVE-2023-38039 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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