CVE-2024-36751 in parse-uri
Summary
by MITRE • 01/16/2025
An issue in parse-uri v1.0.9 allows attackers to cause a Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) via a crafted URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/16/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-36751 resides within the parse-uri library version 1.0.9 and represents a critical Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) flaw that can be exploited by malicious actors to disrupt service availability. This issue specifically manifests when the library processes crafted URLs that contain carefully constructed regular expressions designed to trigger catastrophic backtracking behavior in the underlying parsing logic. The vulnerability stems from the library's insufficient input validation and lack of proper regex sanitization mechanisms, making it susceptible to malicious input patterns that cause the regular expression engine to consume excessive computational resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the parse-uri library's use of regular expressions to parse and validate URL structures, where attackers can craft malicious URLs containing regex patterns that exploit the backtracking behavior of certain regex engines. When the library attempts to process these crafted inputs, the regular expression matching algorithm enters into a state of exponential time complexity, causing the system to become unresponsive or crash. This behavior aligns with the Common Weakness Enumeration CWE-400, which categorizes regular expression denial of service vulnerabilities as weaknesses that can lead to resource exhaustion and system instability. The attack vector specifically targets the parsing functionality of the library, where the malicious input is passed through the regex engine without adequate protection against malicious pattern constructs.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to applications that rely on the parse-uri library for URL processing and validation. Attackers can exploit this flaw by submitting malicious URLs that cause the target system to consume excessive CPU cycles and memory resources, effectively leading to denial of service conditions that can impact legitimate users and system availability. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the vulnerability can be leveraged in distributed denial of service attacks where multiple malicious inputs are submitted simultaneously to overwhelm system resources. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under the T1499.004 technique, which involves network denial of service attacks that consume system resources and can be executed through various means including input manipulation and parsing vulnerabilities.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-36751 should focus on immediate library updates to versions that address the regex handling issues, alongside implementing proper input validation and sanitization measures. Organizations should consider implementing rate limiting and input length restrictions to prevent exploitation attempts, while also monitoring for unusual processing patterns that may indicate ReDoS attacks. The recommended remediation includes upgrading to parse-uri version 1.0.10 or later, which contains patched regex implementations that prevent catastrophic backtracking scenarios. Additionally, security teams should implement regex engine configurations that limit backtracking depth and execution time, and consider alternative parsing approaches that do not rely on regular expressions for critical URL processing functions. Organizations should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify other potential instances of similar regex patterns within their codebase and implement proper security testing procedures to prevent future occurrences of such vulnerabilities.