CVE-2023-36543
denial of service vulnerability in apache-airflow (PyPI)

denial of service No known exploit

What is CVE-2023-36543 About?

This vulnerability in Apache Airflow versions prior to 2.6.3 allows an authenticated user to craft input that causes the current request to hang. This can lead to a denial of service condition by holding up server resources, and is moderately easy to exploit. The significant impact is resource exhaustion and reduced service availability.

Affected Software

apache-airflow <2.6.3

Technical Details

The vulnerability in Apache Airflow, affecting versions before 2.6.3, stems from improper handling of crafted input provided by an authenticated user. Specifically, certain input patterns or data structures, when processed by the application, can lead to an infinite loop, a deadlock, or an extremely long processing time for the request. This causes the server process or thread handling that request to become unresponsive, effectively 'hanging'. If multiple such requests are made, or if the crafted input targets a critical shared resource, it can exhaust the available processing capacity (e.g., worker threads, memory) of the Airflow webserver, leading to a denial of service for other legitimate users.

What is the Impact of CVE-2023-36543?

Successful exploitation may allow attackers to disrupt the normal operation of the application, leading to service unavailability, resource exhaustion, and degraded performance.

What is the Exploitability of CVE-2023-36543?

Exploitation requires prior authentication to the Apache Airflow instance. The attacker needs to be an authenticated user to submit the crafted input that triggers the hanging request. It is a remote attack, and complexity is moderate, requiring knowledge of how to format the input to induce the hang. The primary prerequisite is a valid user account. The risk factors include the ability for any authenticated user, even with low privileges, to potentially impact the availability of the entire Airflow instance.

What are the Known Public Exploits?

PoC Author Link Commentary
No known exploits

What are the Available Fixes for CVE-2023-36543?

Available Upgrade Options

  • apache-airflow
    • <2.6.3 → Upgrade to 2.6.3

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Additional Resources

What are Similar Vulnerabilities to CVE-2023-36543?

Similar Vulnerabilities: CVE-2023-27539 , CVE-2022-26125 , CVE-2018-8013 , CVE-2016-10757 , CVE-2014-0081