Resource exhaustion in Haxx Curl
CVE-2023-23916
An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability exists in curl <v7.88.0 based on the "chained" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning that a server response can be compressed multiple times and potentially with differentalgorithms. The number of acceptable "links" in this "decompression chain" wascapped, but the cap was implemented on a per-header basis allowing a maliciousserver to insert a virtually unlimited number of compression steps simply byusing many headers. The use of such a decompression chain could result in a "malloc bomb", making curl end up spending enormous amounts of allocated heap memory, or trying to and returning out of memory errors.
EPSS: 0.017 (74.9th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- support@hackerone.com (Exploit, Issue Tracking)
- support@hackerone.com (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
- support@hackerone.com (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
- support@hackerone.com (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
- support@hackerone.com (Third Party Advisory)
- support@hackerone.com (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2023-23916?
- CVE-2023-23916 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Haxx Curl, classified under Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2023-02-23.
- How severe is CVE-2023-23916?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2023-23916 known to be exploited?
- 6 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.