Description
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
Potential Impact
Availability
DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU), DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory), DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
Access Control, Other
Bypass Protection Mechanism, Other
Demonstrative Examples
class Worker implements Executor {
...public void execute(Runnable r) {
try {...}catch (InterruptedException ie) {
// postpone response
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
}
}
public Worker(Channel ch, int nworkers) {...}
protected void activate() {
Runnable loop = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {for (;;) {Runnable r = ...;r.run();}}catch (InterruptedException ie) {...}
}
};new Thread(loop).start();
}
}sock=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);while (1) {newsock=accept(sock, ...);printf("A connection has been accepted\n");pid = fork();}int writeDataFromSocketToFile(char *host, int port){
char filename[FILENAME_SIZE];char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];int socket = openSocketConnection(host, port);
if (socket < 0) {printf("Unable to open socket connection");return(FAIL);}if (getNextMessage(socket, filename, FILENAME_SIZE) > 0) {
if (openFileToWrite(filename) > 0) {
while (getNextMessage(socket, buffer, BUFFER_SIZE) > 0){if (!(writeToFile(buffer) > 0))break;
}
}closeFile();
}closeSocket(socket);
}/* process message accepts a two-dimensional character array of the form [length][body] containing the message to be processed */
int processMessage(char **message){
char *body;
int length = getMessageLength(message[0]);
if (length > 0) {body = &message[1][0];processMessageBody(body);return(SUCCESS);}else {printf("Unable to process message; invalid message length");return(FAIL);}
}unsigned int length = getMessageLength(message[0]);if ((length > 0) && (length < MAX_LENGTH)) {...}Mitigations & Prevention
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. 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
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either: 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 is simply difficult to effectively inst
Ensure that protocols have specific limits of scale placed on them.
Ensure that all failures in resource allocation place the system into a safe posture.
Detection Methods
- Automated Static Analysis Limited — Automated static analysis typically has limited utility in recognizing resource exhaustion problems, except for program-independent system resources such as files, sockets, and processes. For system resources, automated static analysis may be able to detect circumstances in which resources are not r
- Automated Dynamic Analysis Moderate — Certain automated dynamic analysis techniques may be effective in spotting resource exhaustion problems, especially with resources such as processes, memory, and connections. The technique may involve generating a large number of requests to the product within a short time frame.
- Fuzzing Opportunistic — While fuzzing is typically geared toward finding low-level implementation bugs, it can inadvertently find resource exhaustion problems. This can occur when the fuzzer generates a large number of test cases but does not restart the targeted product in between test cases. If an individual test case pr
Real-World CVE Examples
| CVE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CVE-2019-19911 | Chain: Python library does not limit the resources used to process images that specify a very large number of bands (CWE-1284), leading to excessive memory consumption (CWE-789) or an integer overflow |
| CVE-2020-7218 | Go-based workload orchestrator does not limit resource usage with unauthenticated connections, allowing a DoS by flooding the service |
| CVE-2020-3566 | Resource exhaustion in distributed OS because of "insufficient" IGMP queue management, as exploited in the wild per CISA KEV. |
| CVE-2009-2874 | Product allows attackers to cause a crash via a large number of connections. |
| CVE-2009-1928 | Malformed request triggers uncontrolled recursion, leading to stack exhaustion. |
| CVE-2009-2858 | Chain: memory leak (CWE-404) leads to resource exhaustion. |
| CVE-2009-2726 | Driver does not use a maximum width when invoking sscanf style functions, causing stack consumption. |
| CVE-2009-2540 | Large integer value for a length property in an object causes a large amount of memory allocation. |
| CVE-2009-2299 | Web application firewall consumes excessive memory when an HTTP request contains a large Content-Length value but no POST data. |
| CVE-2009-2054 | Product allows exhaustion of file descriptors when processing a large number of TCP packets. |
| CVE-2008-5180 | Communication product allows memory consumption with a large number of SIP requests, which cause many sessions to be created. |
| CVE-2008-2121 | TCP implementation allows attackers to consume CPU and prevent new connections using a TCP SYN flood attack. |
| CVE-2008-2122 | Port scan triggers CPU consumption with processes that attempt to read data from closed sockets. |
| CVE-2008-1700 | Product allows attackers to cause a denial of service via a large number of directives, each of which opens a separate window. |
| CVE-2007-4103 | Product allows resource exhaustion via a large number of calls that do not complete a 3-way handshake. |
Showing 15 of 17 observed examples.
Related Weaknesses
Taxonomy Mappings
- CLASP: — Resource exhaustion (file descriptor, disk space, sockets, ...)
- OWASP Top Ten 2004: A9 — Denial of Service
- WASC: 10 — Denial of Service
- WASC: 41 — XML Attribute Blowup
- The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011): SER12-J — Avoid memory and resource leaks during serialization
- The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011): MSC05-J — Do not exhaust heap space
- Software Fault Patterns: SFP13 — Unrestricted Consumption
- ISA/IEC 62443: Part 3-3 — Req SR 7.1
- ISA/IEC 62443: Part 3-3 — Req SR 7.2
- ISA/IEC 62443: Part 4-1 — Req SI-1
- ISA/IEC 62443: Part 4-1 — Req SVV-3
- ISA/IEC 62443: Part 4-2 — Req CR 7.1
- ISA/IEC 62443: Part 4-2 — Req CR 7.2
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CWE-400?
CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) is a software weakness identified by MITRE's Common Weakness Enumeration. It is classified as a Class-level weakness. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
How can CWE-400 be exploited?
Attackers can exploit CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) to dos: crash, exit, or restart, dos: resource consumption (cpu), dos: resource consumption (memory), dos: resource consumption (other). This weakness is typically introduced during the Operation, System Configuration, Architecture and Design, Implementation phase of software development.
How do I prevent CWE-400?
Key mitigations include: 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 acces
What is the severity of CWE-400?
CWE-400 is classified as a Class-level weakness (High abstraction). It has been observed in 17 real-world CVEs.