CVE-2022-41723 : Security Advisory and Response

A maliciously crafted HTTP/2 stream could cause excessive CPU consumption in the HPACK decoder, leading to a denial of service in Go's net/http and golang.org/x/net libraries.

Understanding CVE-2022-41723

This vulnerability allows an attacker to exploit crafted HTTP/2 streams to trigger denial-of-service conditions.

What is CVE-2022-41723?

The flaw in Go's net/http and golang.org/x/net libraries enables attackers to overload the HPACK decoder with a small number of requests, resulting in denial-of-service attacks.

The Impact of CVE-2022-41723

By sending specially crafted HTTP/2 requests, threat actors can exhaust CPU resources, potentially disrupting services and causing denial of service.

Technical Details of CVE-2022-41723

The vulnerability affects the Go standard library's net/http and golang.org/x/net packages within specific version ranges.

Vulnerability Description

A maliciously crafted HTTP/2 stream can lead to excessive CPU consumption in the HPACK decoder, causing denial of service.

Affected Systems and Versions

net/http: Versions less than 1.19.6 and 1.20.0-0, are affected
golang.org/x/net/http2: Versions less than 0.7.0 are impacted
golang.org/x/net/http2/hpack: Affected versions are less than 0.7.0

Exploitation Mechanism

Exploiting this vulnerability involves sending carefully constructed HTTP/2 streams to the affected components, triggering the CPU consumption flaw.

Mitigation and Prevention

To address CVE-2022-41723, immediate steps should be taken to mitigate the risk and prevent potential attacks.

Immediate Steps to Take

Update affected packages to patched versions to prevent exploitation. Monitor resources for unusual CPU spikes.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update dependencies, employ network-level protections, and conduct security audits to bolster defenses.

Patching and Updates

Apply security patches released by Go to address the denial-of-service vulnerability in net/http and golang.org/x/net packages.