CVE-2020-8659 : Exploit Details and Defense Strategies

CNCF Envoy through 1.13.0 may consume excessive amounts of memory when proxying HTTP/1.1 requests or responses with many small chunks.

Understanding CVE-2020-8659

CNCF Envoy through version 1.13.0 is susceptible to memory consumption issues when handling specific types of HTTP requests and responses.

What is CVE-2020-8659?

This CVE refers to a vulnerability in CNCF Envoy that can lead to significant memory consumption under certain conditions, particularly when dealing with HTTP/1.1 requests or responses containing numerous small chunks.

The Impact of CVE-2020-8659

The vulnerability can result in CNCF Envoy consuming excessive amounts of memory, potentially leading to performance degradation, resource exhaustion, or denial of service.

Technical Details of CVE-2020-8659

CNCF Envoy through version 1.13.0 is affected by this memory consumption vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description

CNCF Envoy may experience memory bloat when handling HTTP/1.1 requests or responses with many small (e.g., 1 byte) chunks, impacting system performance.

Affected Systems and Versions

Product: CNCF Envoy
Vendor: N/A
Versions affected: Up to and including 1.13.0

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by sending HTTP/1.1 requests or responses with numerous small chunks, causing CNCF Envoy to consume excessive memory.

Mitigation and Prevention

To address CVE-2020-8659, follow these mitigation strategies:

Immediate Steps to Take

Monitor memory usage of CNCF Envoy instances for unexpected spikes.
Consider limiting the size or number of HTTP chunks in requests and responses.
Implement rate limiting or request size restrictions to prevent memory exhaustion.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update CNCF Envoy to the latest version to apply patches and security fixes.
Conduct thorough testing of Envoy configurations to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Patching and Updates

Apply patches or updates provided by CNCF Envoy to address the memory consumption issue and enhance system security.