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Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in promhttp

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Feb 15, 2022 in prometheus/client_golang • Updated Feb 15, 2023

Package

gomod github.com/prometheus/client_golang (Go)

Affected versions

< 1.11.1

Patched versions

1.11.1

Description

This is the Go client library for Prometheus. It has two separate parts, one for instrumenting application code, and one for creating clients that talk to the Prometheus HTTP API. client_golang is the instrumentation library for Go applications in Prometheus, and the promhttp package in client_golang provides tooling around HTTP servers and clients.

Impact

HTTP server susceptible to a Denial of Service through unbounded cardinality, and potential memory exhaustion, when handling requests with non-standard HTTP methods.

Affected Configuration

In order to be affected, an instrumented software must

  • Use any of promhttp.InstrumentHandler* middleware except RequestsInFlight.
  • Do not filter any specific methods (e.g GET) before middleware.
  • Pass metric with method label name to our middleware.
  • Not have any firewall/LB/proxy that filters away requests with unknown method.

Patches

Workarounds

If you cannot upgrade to v1.11.1 or above, in order to stop being affected you can:

  • Remove method label name from counter/gauge you use in the InstrumentHandler.
  • Turn off affected promhttp handlers.
  • Add custom middleware before promhttp handler that will sanitize the request method given by Go http.Request.
  • Use a reverse proxy or web application firewall, configured to only allow a limited set of methods.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

References

@bwplotka bwplotka published to prometheus/client_golang Feb 15, 2022
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Feb 15, 2022
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Feb 16, 2022
Reviewed Feb 16, 2022
Last updated Feb 15, 2023

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

0.551%
(78th percentile)

CVE ID

CVE-2022-21698

GHSA ID

GHSA-cg3q-j54f-5p7p

Credits

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