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Undertow CVE-2023-5379

HIGH
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (CWE-770)
2023-12-12 secalert@redhat.com
7.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A remote attacker could exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 1.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

A flaw was found in Undertow. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

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

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. A flaw was found in Undertow. When an AJP request is sent that exceeds the max-header-size attribute in ajp-listener, JBoss EAP is marked in an error state by mod_cluster in httpd, causing JBoss EAP to close the TCP connection without returning an AJP response. This happens because mod_proxy_cluster marks the JBoss EAP instance as an error worker when the TCP connection is closed from the backend after sending the AJP request without receiving an AJP response, and stops forwarding. This issue could allow a malicious user could to repeatedly send requests that exceed the max-header-size, causing a Denial of Service (DoS). Affected products include: Redhat Jboss Enterprise Application Platform, Redhat Single Sign-On, Redhat Undertow.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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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

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

DescriptionNVD

A flaw was found in Undertow. When an AJP request is sent that exceeds the max-header-size attribute in ajp-listener, JBoss EAP is marked in an error state by mod_cluster in httpd, causing JBoss EAP to close the TCP connection without returning an AJP response. This happens because mod_proxy_cluster marks the JBoss EAP instance as an error worker when the TCP connection is closed from the backend after sending the AJP request without receiving an AJP response, and stops forwarding. This issue could allow a malicious user could to repeatedly send requests that exceed the max-header-size, causing a Denial of Service (DoS).

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
1.0%
Top 41% exploitable
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 1.0%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

39
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +1
CVSS: +38
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:redhat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:-:*:*:*:text-only:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:7.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:single_sign-on:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:undertow:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2014-7816 MEDIUM POC
5.0 Dec 01

Directory traversal vulnerability in JBoss Undertow 1.0.x before 1.0.17, 1.1.x before 1.1.0.CR5, and 1.2.x before 1.2.0.

CVE-2020-1745 CRITICAL
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A file inclusion vulnerability was found in the AJP connector enabled with a default AJP configuration port of 8009 in U

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A flaw was found in Undertow. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authenticat

CVE-2022-2053 HIGH
7.5 Aug 05

When a POST request comes through AJP and the request exceeds the max-post-size limit (maxEntitySize), Undertow's AjpSer

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