CVE-2023-42457: Plone.rest Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-h6rp-mprm-xgcq
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-400 CWE-770
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-42457 is a MODERATE (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Plone.rest libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves plone.rest vulnerable to denial of service when ++api++ is used many times. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.0.1, 3.0.1.

CVE-2023-42457 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-42457
GHSA Identifier GHSA-h6rp-mprm-xgcq
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Plone.rest
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2023-42457

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Plone.rest dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

plone.rest fixed: 2.0.1 
pip install plone.rest>=2.0.1
plone.rest fixed: 3.0.1 
pip install plone.rest>=3.0.1
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

pip show plone.rest

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2023-42457, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show plone.rest

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Plone.rest in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.0.1), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show plone.rest command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, where the product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource. In Plone.rest, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact When the `++api++` traverser is accidentally used multiple times in a url, handling it takes increasingly longer, making the server less responsive. ### Patches Patches will be released in `plone.rest` 2.0.1 and 3.0.1. Series 1.x is not affected. ### Workarounds In your frontend web server (nginx, Apache) you can redirect `/++api++/++api++` to `/++api++`.

CVE-2023-42457 Affected Plone.rest Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.0.13.0.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
plone.rest
pypi/plone.rest
PyPI
≥ 2.0.0a1
< 2.0.1
2.0.1
plone.rest
pypi/plone.rest
PyPI
≥ 3.0.0
< 3.0.1
All 1 versions
3.0.0
3.0.1

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/plone/plone.rest/security/advisories/GHSA-h6rp-mprm-xgcq
NVD — CVE-2023-42457 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-42457
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/plone/plone.rest/commit/43b4a7e86206e237e1de5ca3817ed071575882f7
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/plone/plone.rest/commit/77846a9842889b24f35e8bedc2e9d461388d3302
Plone.rest Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/plone/plone.rest
Plone.rest Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/plone-rest/PYSEC-2023-178.yaml
Plone.rest Security Information SECURITY
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/2

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-42457?
CVE-2023-42457 is a security vulnerability in Plone.rest involving plone.rest vulnerable to Denial of Service when ++api++ is used many times under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Plone.rest versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.0.1, 3.0.1 across affected packages: plone.rest.
What version fixes CVE-2023-42457?
Upgrading to 2.0.1, 3.0.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is plone.rest affected?
Yes, plone.rest is affected in releases prior to 2.0.1, 3.0.1. Upgrade your dependency to 2.0.1, 3.0.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-42457?
CVE-2023-42457 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-42457?
CVE-2023-42457 is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2023-42457?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show plone.rest'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-h6rp-mprm-xgcq",
  "modified" : "2025-02-13T19:13:09Z",
  "published" : "2023-09-21T17:06:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-42457" ],
  "summary" : "plone.rest vulnerable to Denial of Service when ++api++ is used many times",
  "details" : "### Impact\nWhen the `++api++` traverser is accidentally used multiple times in a url, handling it takes increasingly longer, making the server less responsive.\n\n### Patches\nPatches will be released in `plone.rest` 2.0.1 and 3.0.1.  Series 1.x is not affected.\n\n### Workarounds\nIn your frontend web server (nginx, Apache) you can redirect `/++api++/++api++` to `/++api++`.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "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"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "plone.rest"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2.0.0a1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.0.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "plone.rest"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.0.1"
      } ]
    } ],
    "versions" : [ "3.0.0" ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/plone/plone.rest/security/advisories/GHSA-h6rp-mprm-xgcq"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-42457"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/plone/plone.rest/commit/43b4a7e86206e237e1de5ca3817ed071575882f7"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/plone/plone.rest/commit/77846a9842889b24f35e8bedc2e9d461388d3302"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/plone/plone.rest"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/plone-rest/PYSEC-2023-178.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/2"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400", "CWE-770" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-09-21T17:06:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2023-09-21T15:15:10Z"
  }
}