CVE-2024-12759 in bentoml
Summary
by MITRE • 03/20/2025
In bentoml/bentoml version 1.3.9, the `/login` endpoint of the newly integrated Gradio app is vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This vulnerability can be exploited by appending characters, such as dashes (-), to the end of a multipart boundary in an HTTP request. The server continuously processes each character, leading to excessive resource consumption and rendering the service unavailable. The issue is unauthenticated and does not require any user interaction.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/20/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-12759 affects the bentoml/bentoml framework version 1.3.9 and specifically targets the newly integrated Gradio app component. This represents a critical security flaw that undermines the availability of the service through a carefully crafted denial of service attack. The vulnerability manifests within the `/login` endpoint which handles multipart form data submissions, making it accessible to any attacker without requiring authentication or user interaction. The attack vector exploits how the server processes boundary characters in multipart HTTP requests, creating a scenario where seemingly innocuous input modifications can cause catastrophic resource consumption. This weakness demonstrates a fundamental flaw in input validation and request parsing mechanisms within the web application framework.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability relies on appending characters such as dashes to the end of multipart boundaries in HTTP requests. When the server receives these malformed requests, it enters an infinite processing loop where each appended character triggers additional computational overhead. The system continuously parses and validates these boundary strings without proper bounds checking or rate limiting, causing exponential resource consumption across CPU and memory resources. This behavior aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes unchecked resource consumption as a significant threat to system availability. The vulnerability essentially creates a resource exhaustion condition where legitimate requests cannot be processed due to the server's inability to handle the malformed input efficiently. The lack of authentication requirements means any external party can initiate this attack without prior access credentials, making it particularly dangerous in production environments.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire infrastructure availability. When exploited, the DoS attack consumes excessive computational resources, leading to service unavailability that can affect business operations and user experience. The vulnerability affects the Gradio app integration within the broader bentoml framework, which is commonly used for machine learning model deployment and serving. This means organizations relying on bentoml for their machine learning workflows face significant risk, as the attack can render their model serving endpoints inaccessible. The continuous processing nature of the vulnerability makes it particularly challenging to mitigate, as traditional rate limiting approaches may not effectively address the resource consumption patterns. This attack vector can be easily automated and scaled, potentially causing widespread availability issues for services that depend on the affected framework version.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-12759 should focus on implementing robust input validation and boundary checking mechanisms within the multipart request processing. Organizations should immediately upgrade to a patched version of bentoml/bentoml that addresses this specific vulnerability, as the maintainers have likely implemented proper boundary validation and resource limits. Network-level protections such as rate limiting and request size restrictions can provide temporary mitigation while awaiting the official patch deployment. The implementation of proper input sanitization and boundary validation aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks. Additionally, monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual resource consumption patterns and potential exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls that can identify and block malformed multipart requests before they reach the vulnerable endpoint. The vulnerability highlights the importance of thorough security testing for integrated components and proper resource management in web applications, particularly those handling user input through HTTP multipart forms.