Undertow up to 2.2.18/2.3.0.Alpha1 POST Request resource consumption

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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4.1$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Undertow up to 2.2.18/2.3.0.Alpha1. This affects an unknown function of the component POST Request Handler. This manipulation causes resource consumption. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2022-2053. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. Furthermore, an exploit is available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Undertow up to 2.2.18/2.3.0.Alpha1. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component POST Request Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

When a POST request comes through AJP and the request exceeds the max-post-size limit (maxEntitySize), Undertow's AjpServerRequestConduit implementation closes a connection without sending any response to the client/proxy. This behavior results in that a front-end proxy marking the backend worker (application server) as an error state and not forward requests to the worker for a while. In mod_cluster, this continues until the next STATUS request (10 seconds intervals) from the application server updates the server state. So, in the worst case, it can result in "All workers are in error state" and mod_cluster responds "503 Service Unavailable" for a while (up to 10 seconds). In mod_proxy_balancer, it does not forward requests to the worker until the "retry" timeout passes. However, luckily, mod_proxy_balancer has "forcerecovery" setting (On by default; this parameter can force the immediate recovery of all workers without considering the retry parameter of the workers if all workers of a balancer are in error state.). So, unlike mod_cluster, mod_proxy_balancer does not result in responding "503 Service Unavailable". An attacker could use this behavior to send a malicious request and trigger server errors, resulting in DoS (denial of service). This flaw was fixed in Undertow 2.2.19.Final, Undertow 2.3.0.Alpha2.

The weakness was published 08/05/2022. It is possible to read the advisory at bugzilla.redhat.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-2053 since 06/10/2022. Technical details are unknown but an exploit is available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 240509 (RHEL 7 : Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3.14 Security update (Important) (RHSA-2025:9583)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 2.2.19.Final or 2.3.0.Alpha2 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (240509). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Name

Version

License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.1

VulDB Base Score: 4.3
VulDB Temp Score: 4.1
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Resource consumption
CWE: CWE-400 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Proof-of-Concept

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 240509
Nessus Name: RHEL 7 : Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3.14 Security update (Important) (RHSA-2025:9583)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: Undertow 2.2.19.Final/2.3.0.Alpha2

Timelineinfo

06/10/2022 🔍
08/05/2022 +56 days 🔍
08/05/2022 +0 days 🔍
06/26/2025 +1056 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: bugzilla.redhat.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2022-2053 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2022-2053
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-205675
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 08/05/2022 21:13
Updated: 06/26/2025 06:17
Changes: 08/05/2022 21:13 (40), 06/26/2025 06:17 (16)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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