CVE-2020-8661 Explained : Impact and Mitigation

CNCF Envoy through 1.13.0 may consume excessive amounts of memory when responding internally to pipelined requests.

Understanding CVE-2020-8661

CNCF Envoy through version 1.13.0 is susceptible to a memory consumption issue when handling internal responses to pipelined requests.

What is CVE-2020-8661?

This CVE refers to a vulnerability in CNCF Envoy that could lead to the consumption of excessive memory resources during the processing of pipelined requests internally.

The Impact of CVE-2020-8661

The vulnerability could result in memory exhaustion, potentially causing denial of service (DoS) conditions or performance degradation in affected systems.

Technical Details of CVE-2020-8661

CNCF Envoy through version 1.13.0 is affected by this vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description

CVE ID: CVE-2020-8661
Affected Version: CNCF Envoy through 1.13.0
Issue: Excessive memory consumption during internal response handling

Affected Systems and Versions

Systems running CNCF Envoy versions up to 1.13.0

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted pipelined requests to the affected CNCF Envoy instances, leading to memory exhaustion.

Mitigation and Prevention

It is crucial to take immediate steps to mitigate the risks associated with CVE-2020-8661.

Immediate Steps to Take

Monitor memory usage on systems running CNCF Envoy to detect abnormal spikes
Implement network-level protections to filter out potentially malicious requests

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update CNCF Envoy to the latest patched versions
Conduct security assessments and audits to identify and address vulnerabilities proactively

Patching and Updates

Apply patches provided by CNCF Envoy to address the memory consumption issue