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distribution catalog API endpoint can lead to OOM via malicious user input

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 9, 2023 in distribution/distribution • Updated Nov 12, 2023

Package

gomod github.com/docker/distribution (Go)

Affected versions

< 2.8.2-beta.1

Patched versions

2.8.2-beta.1

Description

Impact

Systems that run distribution built after a specific commit running on memory-restricted environments can suffer from denial of service by a crafted malicious /v2/_catalog API endpoint request.

Patches

Upgrade to at least 2.8.2-beta.1 if you are running v2.8.x release. If you use the code from the main branch, update at least to the commit after f55a6552b006a381d9167e328808565dd2bf77dc.

Workarounds

There is no way to work around this issue without patching. Restrict access to the affected API endpoint: see the recommendations section.

References

/v2/_catalog endpoint accepts a parameter to control the maximum amount of records returned (query string: n).

When not given the default n=100 is used. The server trusts that n has an acceptable value, however when using a
maliciously large value, it allocates an array/slice of n of strings before filling the slice with data.

This behaviour was introduced ~7yrs ago [1].

Recommendation

The /v2/_catalog endpoint was designed specifically to do registry syncs with search or other API systems. Such an endpoint would create a lot of load on the backend system, due to overfetch required to serve a request in certain implementations.

Because of this, we strongly recommend keeping this API endpoint behind heightened privilege and avoiding leaving it exposed to the internet.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

[1] faulty commit

References

@milosgajdos milosgajdos published to distribution/distribution May 9, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 11, 2023
Reviewed May 11, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jun 6, 2023
Last updated Nov 12, 2023

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

0.045%
(17th percentile)

CVE ID

CVE-2023-2253

GHSA ID

GHSA-hqxw-f8mx-cpmw

Credits

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