CVE-2023-36814 : Exploit Details and Defense Strategies

This CVE involves a vulnerability in zopefoundation's Products.CMFCore that can lead to unauthenticated denial of service and crashes. Read on to understand the impact, technical details, and mitigation steps.

Understanding CVE-2023-36814

This section delves into the details of the CVE-2023-36814 vulnerability in Products.CMFCore.

What is CVE-2023-36814?

Products.CMFCore, which provides key framework services for the Zope Content Management Framework (CMF), is affected by this CVE. The issue arises from the unchecked use of input with Python's marshal module in a public method on

PortalFolder

objects, creating a vulnerability that can be exploited for unauthenticated denial of service and crashes.

The Impact of CVE-2023-36814

The vulnerability exposes all portal software built on top of

Products.CMFCore

, including widely used platforms like Plone, to the risk of unauthenticated denial of service and crashes. All deployments using affected versions are vulnerable to exploitation. However, the issue has been addressed in version 3.2 of

Products.CMFCore

.

Technical Details of CVE-2023-36814

In this section, we explore the technical aspects of CVE-2023-36814.

Vulnerability Description

The vulnerability originates from the mishandling of input using Python's marshal module in a public method on

PortalFolder

objects within

Products.CMFCore

, allowing attackers to trigger denial of service and crashes.

Affected Systems and Versions

The affected system is zopefoundation's Products.CMFCore with versions lower than 3.2. These versions are susceptible to exploitation.

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted input to the vulnerable method, causing the server to crash or become unresponsive, leading to a denial of service situation.

Mitigation and Prevention

Protecting your systems from CVE-2023-36814 involves taking immediate actions and adopting long-term security practices.

Immediate Steps to Take

Update

Products.CMFCore

to version 3.2 or higher to mitigate the vulnerability.
Monitor for any unusual server behavior that could indicate a denial of service attack.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update software components to the latest versions to patch known vulnerabilities.
Implement input validation mechanisms to prevent untrusted input from causing system crashes.

Patching and Updates

Stay informed about security advisories and patches released by zopefoundation to ensure your systems are protected from potential threats.