Weakness (CWE)
CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
How to prevent it (8 mitigations)
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Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
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Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
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Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended. A strong authentication and access control model will help prevent such attacks from occurring in the first place, and it will help the administrator to identify who is committing the abuse. The login application should be protected against DoS attacks as much as possible. Limiting the database access, perhaps by caching result sets, can help minimize the resources expended. To further limit the potential for a DoS attack, consider tracking the rate of requests received from users and blocking requests that exceed a defined rate threshold.
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Implementation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue."
Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
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Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
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Architecture and Design
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
- recognizes the attack and denies that user further access for a given amount of time, typically by using increasing time delays
- uniformly throttles all requests in order to make it more difficult to consume resources more quickly than they can again be freed.
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution can be difficult to effectively institute -- and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply requires more resources on the part of the attacker.
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Architecture and Design
Ensure that protocols have specific limits of scale placed on them.
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Architecture and Design, Implementation
If the program must fail, ensure that it fails gracefully (fails closed). There may be a temptation to simply let the program fail poorly in cases such as low memory conditions, but an attacker may be able to assert control before the software has fully exited. Alternately, an uncontrolled failure could cause cascading problems with other downstream components; for example, the program could send a signal to a downstream process so the process immediately knows that a problem has occurred and has a better chance of recovery.
Ensure that all failures in resource allocation place the system into a safe posture.
Source: MITRE CWE-770
2,488 results · Feed
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High 7.5
Suricata's mishandling of data on HTTP2 stream 0 can lead to resource starvation
Suricata is a network IDS, IPS and NSM engine developed by the OISF (Open Information Security Foundation) and the Suricata community. In versions 7.0.10 and below and 8.0.0-beta1 through 8.0.0-rc1, mishandling of data on HTTP2 stream 0 can lead to uncontroll…
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Medium 4.5
IBM Security QRadar Network Threat Analytics denial of service
IBM Security QRadar Network Threat Analytics 1.0.0 through 1.3.1 could allow a privileged user to cause a denial of service due to improper allocation of resources.
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Medium 5.3
Starlette has possible denial-of-service vector when parsing large files in multipart forms
Starlette is a lightweight ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) framework/toolkit, designed for building async web services in Python. In versions 0.47.1 and below, when parsing a multi-part form with large files (greater than the default max spool si…
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High 7.5
In Netgear RAX30 V1.0.10.94_3, the USERLIMIT_GLOBAL option is set to 0 in multiple bftpd-related configuration files. T…
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Medium 4.9
Vulnerability in the MySQL Server product of Oracle MySQL (component: Server: Optimizer). Supported versions that are a…
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Medium 4.3
py-libp2p is vulnerable to DoS attacks through use of large RSA keys
py-libp2p before 0.2.3 allows a peer to cause a denial of service (resource consumption) via a large RSA key.
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High 7.5
cpp-httplib Unbounded Memory Allocation in Chunked/No-Length Requests Vulnerability
cpp-httplib is a C++11 single-file header-only cross platform HTTP/HTTPS library. Prior to 0.23.0, incoming requests using Transfer-Encoding: chunked in the header can allocate memory arbitrarily in the server, potentially leading to its exhaustion. This vuln…
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Medium 6.3
cpp-httplib does not limit the length of a line
cpp-httplib is a C++11 single-file header-only cross platform HTTP/HTTPS library. Prior to 0.20.1, cpp-httplib does not have a limit for a unique line, permitting an attacker to explore this to allocate memory arbitrarily. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.20.…
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High 8.7
Chall-Manager's HTTP Gateway have no header check timeout leading to potential slow loris attacks
Chall-Manager is a platform-agnostic system able to start Challenges on Demand of a player. The HTTP Gateway processes headers, but with no timeout set. With a slow loris attack, an attacker could cause Denial of Service (DoS). Exploitation does not require a…
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High 8.7
WeGIA allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption via the fid parameter
WeGIA is a web manager for charitable institutions. The Wegia server has a vulnerability that allows excessively long HTTP GET requests to a specific URL. This issue arises from the lack of validation for the length of the fid parameter. Tests confirmed that …
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High 8.7
WeGIA allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption via the errorstr parameter
WeGIA is a web manager for charitable institutions. The Wegia server has a vulnerability that allows excessively long HTTP GET requests to a specific URL. This issue arises from the lack of validation for the length of the errorstr parameter. Tests confirmed …
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High 7.5
Redis DoS Vulnerability due to bad connection error handling
Redis is an open source, in-memory database that persists on disk. An unauthenticated connection can cause repeated IP protocol errors, leading to client starvation and, ultimately, a denial of service. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.0.3, 7.4.5, 7.2.10, and…
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Medium 5.9
Crash due to uncontrolled recursion in protobuf crate
The protobuf crate before 3.7.2 for Rust allows uncontrolled recursion in the protobuf::coded_input_stream::CodedInputStream::skip_group parsing of unknown fields in untrusted input.
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Medium 4.0
Rust Web Push is vulnerable to a DoS attack via a large integer in a Content-Length header
The web-push crate before 0.10.3 for Rust allows a denial of service (memory consumption) in the built-in clients via a large integer in a Content-Length header.
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Medium 4.3
IROAD Dashcam Q9 MFA Pairing Request allocation of resources
A vulnerability has been found in IROAD Dashcam Q9 up to 20250624 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component MFA Pairing Request Handler. The manipulation leads to allocation of resources. The at…
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Medium 6.5
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitLab
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 10.7 before 17.11.5, 18.0 before 18.0.3, and 18.1 before 18.1.1 that could have allowed authenticated attackers to create a DoS condition by sending crafted GraphQL requests.
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Low 3.4
Incus vulnerable to DoS through antispoofing nftables firewall rule bypass on bridge networks with ACLs
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. When using an ACL on a device connected to a bridge, Incus version 6.12 and 6.13 generates nftables rules for local services (DHCP, DNS...) that partially bypass security options `security.mac_filtering…
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High 7.5
A denial-of-service vulnerability due to improper prioritization of network traffic over protection mechanism exists in…
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Low 1.7
Letmein connection limiter allows an arbitrary amount of simultaneous connections
Letmein is an authenticating port knocker. Prior to version 10.2.1, The connection limiter is implemented incorrectly. It allows an arbitrary amount of simultaneously incoming connections (TCP, UDP and Unix socket) for the services letmeind and letmeinfwd. Th…
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High 8.8
NeKernal Multiple Memory Corruption Vulnerabilities in mkfs.hefs
NeKernal is a free and open-source operating system stack. Prior to version 0.0.3, there are several memory safety issues that can lead to memory corruption, disk image corruption, denial of service, and potential code execution. These issues stem from unchec…
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Medium 6.5
Denial of Service via Malformed Modbus Packets
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability could allow an attacker to cause repeated reboots, potentially leading to remote denial-of-service and system unavailability.
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Medium 4.2
Login Session Exhaustion
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability could allow an attacker to consume all available session slots and block other users from logging in, thereby preventing legitimate users from gaining access to the product.
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High 7.5
IBM InfoSphere Information Server denial of service
IBM InfoSphere Information Server 11.7.0.0 through 11.7.1.6 could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service due to insufficient validation of incoming request resources.
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Medium 4.3
The Yealink RPS API before 2025-05-26 lacks rate limiting, potentially enabling information disclosure via excessive re…
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High 7.5
Incorrect congestion window growth by invalid ACK ranges
Impact Cloudflare quiche was discovered to be vulnerable to incorrect congestion window growth, which could cause it to send data at a rate faster than the path might actually support. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the vulnerability by first …
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Medium 5.3
Incorrect congestion window growth by optimistic ACK
Impact Cloudflare quiche was discovered to be vulnerable to incorrect congestion window growth, which could cause it to send data at a rate faster than the path might actually support. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the vulnerability by first …
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Low 2.9
A denial of service (DoS) vulnerability has been identified in the JavaScript library microlight version 0.0.7. This li…
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High 7.5
Apache Commons FileUpload, Apache Commons FileUpload: FileUpload DoS via part headers
Allocation of resources for multipart headers with insufficient limits enabled a DoS vulnerability in Apache Commons FileUpload. This issue affects Apache Commons FileUpload: from 1.0 before 1.6; from 2.0.0-M1 before 2.0.0-M4. Users are recommended to upgrade…
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High 7.5
Apache Tomcat: FileUpload large number of parts with headers DoS
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Apache Tomcat. This issue affects Apache Tomcat: from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.7, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.41, from 9.0.0.M1 through 9.0.105. The following versions were EOL at the time th…
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Medium 5.6
CVE-2025-22242 salt advisory
Worker process denial of service through file read operation. .A vulnerability exists in the Master's “pub_ret” method which is exposed to all minions. The un-sanitized input value “jid” is used to construct a path which is then opened for reading. An attacke…
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Medium 6.5
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitLab
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 8.13 before 17.10.7, 17.11 before 17.11.3, and 18.0 before 18.0.1. A lack of input validation in Board Names could be used to trigger a denial of service.
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Medium 6.5
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitLab
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 8.7 before 17.10.8, 17.11 before 17.11.4, and 18.0 before 18.0.2. Improper input validation in Tokens Names could be used to trigger a denial of service.
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Medium 6.5
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitLab
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 2.1.0 before 17.10.8, 17.11 before 17.11.4, and 18.0 before 18.0.2. A lack of input validation in HTTP responses could allow an authenticated user to cause denial of service.
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High 7.5
IBM Cognos Analytics denial of service
IBM Cognos Analytics 11.2.0, 11.2.1, 11.2.2, 11.2.3, 11.2.4, 12.0.0, 12.0.1, 12.0.2, 12.0.3, and 12.0.4 could allow an authenticated user to cause a denial of service by sending a specially crafted request that would exhaust memory resources.
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Medium 6.5
Admin Audit Trail - Less critical - Denial of Service - SA-CONTRIB-2025-068
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Drupal Admin Audit Trail allows Excessive Allocation.This issue affects Admin Audit Trail: from 0.0.0 before 1.0.5.
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High 7.5
Pion Interceptor's improper RTP padding handling allows remote crash for SFU users (DoS)
Pion Interceptor is a framework for building RTP/RTCP communication software. Versions v0.1.36 through v0.1.38 contain a bug in a RTP packet factory that can be exploited to trigger a panic with Pion based SFU via crafted RTP packets, This only affect users t…
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High 8.7
Discourse vulnerable to DoS via large URL payload in PM to a bot
Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.4.4 of the `stable` branch, version 3.5.0.beta5 of the `beta` branch, and version 3.5.0.beta6-dev of the `tests-passed` branch, sending a malicious URL in a PM to a bot user can cause a reduc…
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Medium 5.7
Rhcl: authpolicy callbacks result in denial of service in authorino severity
The Authorino service in the Red Hat Connectivity Link is the authorization service for zero trust API security. Authorino allows the users with developer persona to add callbacks to be executed to HTTP endpoints once the authorization process is completed. I…
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High 7.5
CoreDNS Vulnerable to DoQ Memory Exhaustion via Stream Amplification
CoreDNS is a DNS server that chains plugins. In versions prior to 1.12.2, a Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability exists in the CoreDNS DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) server implementation. The server previously created a new goroutine for every incoming QUIC stream wit…
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High 7.1
File Station 5
An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability has been reported to affect File Station 5. If a remote attacker gains a user account, they can then exploit the vulnerability to prevent other systems, applications, or processes from acce…