#VU88539 Resource exhaustion in XZ Utils - CVE-2020-22916

Vulnerability identifier: #VU88539

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 6.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2020-22916

CWE-ID: CWE-400

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
XZ Utils
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products

Vendor: tukaani.org

Description

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

The vulnerability exists due to application does not properly control consumption of internal resources when decompressing files. A remote attacker can trigger resource exhaustion and perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

XZ Utils: 5.2.5

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External links
https://github.com/snappyJack/CVE-request-XZ-5.2.5-has-denial-of-service-vulnerability
https://github.com/tukaani-project/xz/issues/61
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2234987
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1214590
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-22916
https://web.archive.org/web/20230918084612/
https://github.com/snappyJack/CVE-request-XZ-5.2.5-has-denial-of-service-vulnerability

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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.