CVE-2023-51314 in Restaurant Booking System
Summary
by MITRE • 02/20/2025
A lack of rate limiting in the 'Forgot Password', 'Email Settings' feature of PHPJabbers Restaurant Booking System v3.0 allows attackers to send an excessive amount of email for a legitimate user, leading to a possible Denial of Service (DoS) via a large amount of generated e-mail messages.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/07/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-51314 resides within the PHPJabbers Restaurant Booking System version 3.0, specifically targeting the 'Forgot Password' and 'Email Settings' functionality. This weakness represents a critical security flaw that enables malicious actors to exploit the system's absence of rate limiting controls during email generation processes. The vulnerability operates by allowing unauthorized users to repeatedly trigger email sending mechanisms without proper throttling, potentially overwhelming the system's email infrastructure and legitimate users' inboxes. The affected system lacks any form of request frequency monitoring or user session tracking that would normally prevent excessive email dispatch operations.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability manifests as a failure to implement proper rate limiting mechanisms within the application's email handling components. The system does not enforce any constraints on the number of password reset requests or email configuration updates that can be processed within a given time window. This absence of controls creates an environment where an attacker can systematically flood the email server with generated messages, potentially exhausting system resources or triggering spam filters that could impact legitimate user communications. The flaw aligns with CWE-770, which specifically addresses the allocation of resources without proper limits or throttling mechanisms, making it particularly dangerous in environments where email services are constrained or rate-limited by external providers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, creating potential for broader security implications within the affected environment. Attackers can leverage this weakness to conduct denial of service attacks against legitimate users by overwhelming their email accounts with generated messages, effectively preventing them from receiving legitimate communications. The system's inability to distinguish between legitimate user requests and malicious flooding creates an environment where even authorized users may experience service degradation or complete email delivery failures. This vulnerability also opens possibilities for spam abuse and potential email server blacklisting, as the excessive email volume could trigger spam detection mechanisms that affect the entire system's email reputation.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing comprehensive rate limiting controls within the application's email handling modules. The most effective approach involves establishing time-based restrictions on password reset requests and email configuration updates, typically limiting operations to a reasonable number of attempts per user within a specific time period. Network-level rate limiting solutions can provide additional protection by monitoring and controlling email traffic flows at the infrastructure level. Security configurations should include logging and monitoring capabilities to detect unusual email sending patterns, enabling administrators to identify and respond to potential abuse attempts. The implementation of CAPTCHA mechanisms or user authentication verification prior to email generation can further strengthen defenses against automated abuse. Organizations should also consider implementing email queue management systems that can prioritize legitimate communications and temporarily delay or block excessive email generation requests. These measures align with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which addresses network denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion, and provide protection against similar attack vectors targeting application-level email systems.