CVE-2023-2990 in EFT
Summary
by MITRE • 06/22/2023
Fortra Globalscape EFT versions before 8.1.0.16 suffer from a denial of service vulnerability, where a compressed message that decompresses to itself can cause infinite recursion and crash the service
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/17/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-2990 affects Fortra Globalscape EFT versions prior to 8.1.0.16 and represents a critical denial of service condition that can be exploited through improper handling of compressed data. This issue manifests when the system processes a compressed message that decompresses to itself, creating a condition that leads to infinite recursion and subsequent service crash. The flaw exists within the decompression logic of the software's message processing engine, where the system fails to properly validate or limit recursive decompression operations.
This vulnerability falls under the category of improper input validation and can be classified as a CWE-400 vulnerability, specifically related to unchecked resource consumption or infinite loops. The technical implementation flaw occurs in the decompression algorithm where the system does not implement adequate recursion depth limits or cycle detection mechanisms. When a specially crafted compressed payload is received, the decompression process enters an infinite loop where the decompressed output matches the input, causing the system to continuously process the same data without termination.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows remote attackers to perform denial of service attacks against Fortra Globalscape EFT services without requiring authentication or privileged access. The service crash resulting from this condition can disrupt critical file transfer operations and may be exploited to cause extended downtime for organizations relying on the platform for business-critical data exchange. The vulnerability affects the availability aspect of the CIA triad and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499.100, specifically targeting service availability through resource exhaustion or process termination.
Organizations using affected versions of Fortra Globalscape EFT should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to version 8.1.0.16 or later, which includes proper recursion depth limiting and input validation controls. Network-level protections such as rate limiting and payload inspection can provide additional defense-in-depth measures. The fix typically involves implementing maximum recursion depth checks, cycle detection algorithms, and proper validation of compressed data before processing. System administrators should also monitor for unusual service behavior and implement automated alerting for potential exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify any similar patterns in other components of the system architecture that might be susceptible to similar recursion-based denial of service conditions.