CVE-2020-23680 in text2pdf
Summary
by MITRE • 11/03/2021
An issue was discovered in function StartPage in text2pdf.c in pdfcorner text2pdf 1.1, allows attackers to cause denial of service or possibly other undisclosed impacts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/09/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-23680 resides within the text2pdf conversion utility version 1.1, specifically within the StartPage function located in the text2pdf.c source file. This flaw represents a critical security concern that can be exploited by malicious actors to disrupt system operations and potentially compromise system integrity. The issue manifests as a denial of service condition that can be triggered through crafted input processing within the text-to-pdf conversion workflow, making it particularly dangerous in environments where automated document processing is prevalent.
This vulnerability operates at the core of the text2pdf utility's document parsing and rendering capabilities, where the StartPage function fails to properly validate or sanitize input parameters during the conversion process. The flaw allows attackers to craft malicious text input that, when processed by the utility, causes the application to crash or enter an unstable state. The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and may also exhibit characteristics consistent with CWE-400, representing unchecked resource consumption that can lead to denial of service conditions. The root cause stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms that fail to properly handle malformed or excessively large input data streams during the PDF generation process.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-23680 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially enable more sophisticated attack vectors. In production environments where text2pdf is used for automated document processing, this vulnerability can be exploited to create persistent denial of service conditions that may affect business continuity and system availability. Attackers could leverage this weakness to target web applications or document management systems that rely on text2pdf for content conversion, potentially leading to cascading failures in document processing workflows. The vulnerability's potential for undisclosed impacts suggests it might also enable privilege escalation or information disclosure scenarios, particularly in environments where the utility runs with elevated privileges. According to ATT&CK framework domain T1499, this vulnerability could be categorized under Disruption of Services, specifically targeting availability through resource exhaustion or process termination.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-23680 should prioritize immediate patching of the text2pdf utility to version 1.2 or later, which contains the necessary input validation fixes. Organizations should implement robust input sanitization measures at the application level, including parameter validation, length restrictions, and resource monitoring to detect anomalous processing patterns. Network-based protections such as intrusion detection systems should be configured to monitor for suspicious text processing requests that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing process isolation and resource limits to prevent a single vulnerable process from consuming excessive system resources. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other document processing utilities and ensure comprehensive protection against similar attack vectors that could leverage the same class of input validation flaws.