CVE-2024-45230
Description
A flaw was found in Python's Django urlize() and urlizetrunc() functions. Excessive input with a specific sequence of characters may lead to denial of service.
Statement
CVE-2024-45230 is classified as a moderate severity vulnerability because, while it presents a potential denial-of-service (DoS) risk, it does not directly expose the application to data breaches or arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability arises from inefficient handling of very large inputs with specific character sequences in the urlize() and urlizetrunc() functions. However, the attack requires carefully crafted input and only leads to resource exhaustion (such as CPU or memory overload) under specific conditions, making it less likely to be exploited in typical production environments. This reduces its impact compared to vulnerabilities that allow unauthorized access or significant system compromise, hence the moderate severity rating.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.9 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | None | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | None |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
In the case of CVE-2024-45230, an attacker would need to craft very specific and large inputs with a certain sequence of characters to trigger the potential denial-of-service condition in the urlize() and urlizetrunc() functions. The attack does not occur simply by providing arbitrary input, but rather requires input that is designed to cause the application to consume excessive resources (e.g., CPU or memory). This type of attack would likely require a deeper understanding of how the functions process text, and it would need to be precisely executed to cause the problem, which makes the attack more complex and harder to exploit.
Thus, Attack Complexity marked as high.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
If an attacker can trigger the allocation of the limited resources, but the number or size of the resources is not controlled, then the most common result is denial of service. This would prevent valid users from accessing the product, and it could potentially have an impact on the surrounding environment, i.e., the product may slow down, crash due to unhandled errors, or lock out legitimate users. For example, a memory exhaustion attack against an application could slow down the application as well as its host operating system.
Access Control,Other
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other
In some cases it may be possible to force the product to "fail open" in the event of resource exhaustion. The state of the product -- and possibly the security functionality - may then be compromised.
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