CVE-2022-3456 in rdiffweb
Summary
by MITRE • 10/14/2022
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitHub repository ikus060/rdiffweb prior to 2.5.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/15/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-3456 represents a critical resource allocation flaw in the rdiffweb repository management system developed by ikus060. This issue manifests as an insufficient mechanism for controlling resource consumption during file operations, particularly affecting the web-based interface that manages backup and synchronization tasks. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to 2.5.0, indicating that users operating older releases face significant security risks due to the absence of proper resource limiting controls. The flaw directly impacts the system's ability to manage memory and processing resources effectively, creating potential vectors for resource exhaustion attacks that could compromise system stability and availability.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement adequate throttling mechanisms when processing file operations and backup tasks. When users upload or synchronize large files, the system allocates memory and processing resources without proper bounds or monitoring, allowing malicious actors to exploit this behavior by submitting excessive resource requests. This lack of resource management creates a scenario where attackers can consume system resources at an uncontrolled rate, potentially leading to denial of service conditions. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-770, which specifically addresses the allocation of resources without limits or throttling, making it a direct implementation of this well-known weakness category. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation and resource management practices that are fundamental to secure application design principles.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-3456 extends beyond simple performance degradation to encompass potential system compromise and service disruption. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability can cause memory exhaustion, CPU overload, and overall system instability that affects not only the targeted application but potentially the entire hosting environment. In enterprise settings where rdiffweb serves as a critical backup management tool, this vulnerability could lead to data accessibility issues, backup failures, and extended downtime during critical recovery operations. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to leverage the resource exhaustion conditions to perform additional attacks such as process injection or privilege escalation attempts, making it a particularly dangerous flaw in the context of the attack lifecycle as defined by the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Organizations using affected versions face risks of unauthorized access, data loss, and service disruption that could impact business continuity.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-3456 require immediate implementation of the available patch updates to version 2.5.0 or later, which includes proper resource limiting and throttling controls. System administrators should implement additional monitoring mechanisms to detect unusual resource consumption patterns and establish automated alerts for resource utilization thresholds. Network-level controls such as rate limiting and connection pooling should be configured to prevent excessive resource consumption from single clients. Organizations should also implement proper resource allocation policies that define maximum file sizes, processing time limits, and concurrent operation constraints. The fix addresses the core issue by introducing proper resource management controls that align with industry best practices for secure software development and system hardening as outlined in NIST SP 800-125 and OWASP secure coding guidelines. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to ensure that similar resource management flaws do not exist in other components of the backup and synchronization infrastructure.