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High resource usage when parsing multipart form data with many fields

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Feb 14, 2023 in pallets/werkzeug • Updated Aug 18, 2023

Package

pip Werkzeug (pip)

Affected versions

< 2.2.3

Patched versions

2.2.3

Description

Werkzeug's multipart form data parser will parse an unlimited number of parts, including file parts. Parts can be a small amount of bytes, but each requires CPU time to parse and may use more memory as Python data. If a request can be made to an endpoint that accesses request.data, request.form, request.files, or request.get_data(parse_form_data=False), it can cause unexpectedly high resource usage.

This allows an attacker to cause a denial of service by sending crafted multipart data to an endpoint that will parse it. The amount of CPU time required can block worker processes from handling legitimate requests. The amount of RAM required can trigger an out of memory kill of the process. Unlimited file parts can use up memory and file handles. If many concurrent requests are sent continuously, this can exhaust or kill all available workers.

References

@davidism davidism published to pallets/werkzeug Feb 14, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Feb 14, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Feb 15, 2023
Reviewed Feb 15, 2023
Last updated Aug 18, 2023

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

0.247%
(65th percentile)

CVE ID

CVE-2023-25577

GHSA ID

GHSA-xg9f-g7g7-2323

Source code

Credits

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