CVE-2022-23516 Explained : Impact and Mitigation
Learn about CVE-2022-23516 where uncontrolled recursion in Loofah library versions >= 2.2.0, < 2.19.1 can lead to denial of service. Find out the impact, affected versions, and mitigation steps.
Uncontrolled Recursion in Loofah is a vulnerability that affects the Flavourjones Loofah library versions greater than or equal to 2.2.0 and less than 2.19.1. This CVE poses a high severity risk due to uncontrolled recursion behavior leading to potential denial of service attacks.
Understanding CVE-2022-23516
This section provides insights into what CVE-2022-23516 entails.
What is CVE-2022-23516?
Loofah is a general library used for manipulating and transforming HTML/XML documents and fragments. The specific versions impacted are those greater than or equal to 2.2.0 and less than 2.19.1. The vulnerability arises from the library's use of recursion for sanitizing CDATA sections, consequently risking stack exhaustion and triggering a SystemStackError exception. The exploitation of this vulnerability could result in a denial of service by causing excessive CPU resource consumption.
The Impact of CVE-2022-23516
The impact of this CVE is categorized as high severity according to the CVSS v3.1 metrics due to the uncontrolled recursion behavior in Loofah's affected versions. The presence of this vulnerability can lead to potential denial of service attacks.
Technical Details of CVE-2022-23516
This section delves into the technical aspects of CVE-2022-23516.
Vulnerability Description
The vulnerability in Loofah versions >= 2.2.0, < 2.19.1 is rooted in the uncontrolled recursion used for sanitizing CDATA sections. The lack of proper checks and balances in the recursion logic can exhaust the stack, eventually causing a SystemStackError exception.
Affected Systems and Versions
The versions affected by CVE-2022-23516 are Loofah versions greater than or equal to 2.2.0 and less than 2.19.1 from the vendor Flavourjones.
Exploitation Mechanism
Exploiting this vulnerability involves triggering the uncontrolled recursion behavior in the specific versions of the Loofah library, thereby potentially leading to a denial of service due to excessive CPU resource consumption.
Mitigation and Prevention
This section outlines the steps to mitigate and prevent the exploitation of CVE-2022-23516.
Immediate Steps to Take
Users and administrators are advised to update their Loofah library to version 2.19.1 or above to mitigate the risks associated with this vulnerability. If upgrading is not feasible, limiting the length of strings that are sanitized can serve as a temporary mitigation measure.
Long-Term Security Practices
In the long term, incorporating robust input validation mechanisms and ensuring regular security updates for third-party libraries can help prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited.
Patching and Updates
Vendor patches are available in Loofah version 2.19.1, addressing the uncontrolled recursion issue. Users are strongly encouraged to apply these patches promptly to safeguard their systems and mitigate the risk of denial of service attacks.