CVE-2023-45142
Description
A memory leak was found in the otelhttp handler of open-telemetry. This flaw allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to exhaust the server's memory by sending many malicious requests, affecting the availability.
Statement
While no authentication is required, there are a significant number of non-default factors which prevent widespread exploitation of this flaw. For a service to be affected, all of the following must be true:
- The go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp package must be in use
- Configured a metrics pipeline which uses the otelhttp.NewHandler wrapper function
- No filtering of unknown HTTP methods or user agents at a higher level (such as Content Delivery Network/Load Balancer/etc...)
Due to the limited attack surface, Red Hat Product Security rates the impact as Moderate.
Mitigation
As a workaround to stop being affected otelhttp.WithFilter() can be used.
For convenience and safe usage of this library, it should by default mark with the label unknown non-standard HTTP methods and User agents to show that such requests were made but do not increase cardinality. In case someone wants to stay with the current behavior, library API should allow to enable it.
The other possibility is to disable HTTP metrics instrumentation by passing otelhttp.WithMeterProvider option with noop.NewMeterProvider.
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 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | 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:L/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
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
