Denial of service in grpc-java

1) Resource management error

EUVDB-ID: #VU60181

Risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 5.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2021-22569

CWE-ID: CWE-399 - Resource Management Errors

Exploit availability: Yes

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to improper management of internal resources within the application. protobuf-java allowes the interleaving of com.google.protobuf.UnknownFieldSet fields in such a way that would be processed out of order. A small malicious payload can occupy the parser for several minutes by creating large numbers of short-lived objects that cause frequent, repeated pauses. A remote attacker can trick the victim into passing specially crafted data to the application and perform a denial of service attack.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

grpc-java: 1.40.0 - 1.43.1

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:grpc:grpc-java:1.43.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

External links

https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/releases/tag/v1.41.2
https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/releases/tag/v1.42.2

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.