Vert.x HTTP Client Memory Leak via Netty FastThreadLocal
CVE-2024-1023 Published on March 27, 2024
Io.vertx/vertx-core: memory leak due to the use of netty fastthreadlocal data structures in vertx
A vulnerability in the Eclipse Vert.x toolkit results in a memory leak due to using Netty FastThreadLocal data structures. Specifically, when the Vert.x HTTP client establishes connections to different hosts, triggering the memory leak. The leak can be accelerated with intimate runtime knowledge, allowing an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. For instance, a server accepting arbitrary internet addresses could serve as an attack vector by connecting to these addresses, thereby accelerating the memory leak.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2024-1023 can be exploited with network access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. Public availability of a proof of concept (POC) exploit exists for CVE-2024-1023. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.
Timeline
Reported to Red Hat.
Made public.
Weakness Type
What is a Memory Leak Vulnerability?
The software does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. This is often triggered by improper handling of malformed data or unexpectedly interrupted sessions. In some languages, developers are responsible for tracking memory allocation and releasing the memory. If there are no more pointers or references to the memory, then it can no longer be tracked and identified for release.
CVE-2024-1023 has been classified to as a Memory Leak vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2024-1023
You can be notified by email with stack.watch whenever vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-1023 are published in these products:
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.