CVE-2019-3564 in Thrift
Summary
by MITRE
Go Facebook Thrift servers would not error upon receiving messages with containers of fields of unknown type. As a result, malicious clients could send short messages which would take a long time for the server to parse, potentially leading to denial of service. This issue affects Facebook Thrift prior to v2019.03.04.00.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/12/2023
The vulnerability described in CVE-2019-3564 represents a significant denial of service weakness within Facebook's Thrift server implementation that stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms. This flaw exists in the protocol buffer parsing logic where the server fails to properly handle messages containing containers with fields of unknown type, creating a scenario where malformed data can cause unexpected behavior during message processing. The vulnerability specifically impacts Go implementations of Facebook Thrift servers that operate on versions prior to v2019.03.04.00, indicating that this was a targeted issue within Facebook's internal infrastructure rather than a widespread problem affecting external systems.
The technical nature of this vulnerability involves the server's failure to validate field types within container structures during message parsing operations. When a malicious client sends a message containing short payloads with containers that reference fields of unknown types, the Thrift server continues processing rather than rejecting the malformed input. This behavior creates a parsing inefficiency where the server must attempt to interpret undefined field types, leading to extended processing times that can consume significant system resources. The flaw operates at the protocol level where the server's deserialization logic lacks proper type checking mechanisms, allowing the execution to proceed through potentially expensive operations that could be avoided with proper validation.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for services relying on Facebook Thrift for inter-service communication, particularly in high-throughput environments where resource exhaustion can quickly cascade into system-wide outages. The denial of service potential arises from the fact that attackers can craft minimal messages that trigger substantial computational overhead during parsing, effectively creating a resource exhaustion attack vector. This issue demonstrates poor input validation practices that align with CWE-20, which addresses "Improper Input Validation" in software security frameworks. The vulnerability essentially allows an attacker to perform a form of computational resource exhaustion attack that can be executed with relatively simple payloads, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where service availability is critical.
The attack pattern associated with this vulnerability follows principles consistent with the MITRE ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation and denial of service tactics, where an attacker can leverage protocol-level weaknesses to consume system resources without requiring elevated privileges. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as it can potentially lead to cascading failures in distributed systems where Thrift-based services communicate across multiple components. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the patched version of Facebook Thrift v2019.03.04.00 or applying equivalent patches that enforce proper field type validation. Additionally, network-level controls such as rate limiting and message size restrictions can provide additional protection layers while waiting for full deployment of the security patches. The vulnerability highlights the importance of robust input validation in protocol implementations and the critical need for proper error handling in distributed system components that process external data inputs.