CVE-2011-4462: Plone Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-pcwm-8jc3-qxvj
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-20
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2011-4462 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting Plone libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves plone denial of service vulnerability. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.1.4.

CVE-2011-4462 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2011-4462
GHSA Identifier GHSA-pcwm-8jc3-qxvj
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
Affected Product Plone
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-2011-4462

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Plone 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 fixed: 4.1.4 
pip install Plone>=4.1.4
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

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2011-4462, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show Plone

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Plone in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.1.4), your application is affected.

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

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, where the product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. In Plone, 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

Plone 4.1.3 and earlier computes hash values for form parameters without restricting the ability to trigger hash collisions predictably, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) by sending many crafted parameters.

CVE-2011-4462 Affected Plone Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.1.4
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
Plone
pypi/Plone
PyPI
< 4.1.4
4.1.4

References

NVD — CVE-2011-4462 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4462
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/720... WEB
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/72018
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-pcwm-8jc3-qxvj
Plone Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/plone/plone
Plone Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/plone/PYSEC-2011-22.yaml
archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/20... WEB
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2011-12/0181.html
www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/903934 WEB
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/903934
www.nruns.com/_downloads/advisory... WEB
http://www.nruns.com/_downloads/advisory28122011.pdf
www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-20... WEB
http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2011-003.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2011-4462?
CVE-2011-4462 is a security vulnerability in Plone involving Plone Denial of Service vulnerability under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which Plone versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.1.4 across affected packages: Plone.
What version fixes CVE-2011-4462?
Upgrading to 4.1.4 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is Plone affected?
Yes, Plone is affected in releases prior to 4.1.4. Upgrade your dependency to 4.1.4 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2011-4462?
CVE-2011-4462 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) 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-2011-4462?
CVE-2011-4462 is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation (The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2011-4462?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show Plone'. 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-pcwm-8jc3-qxvj",
  "modified" : "2024-10-11T21:04:36Z",
  "published" : "2018-07-23T19:50:52Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2011-4462" ],
  "summary" : "Plone Denial of Service vulnerability",
  "details" : "Plone 4.1.3 and earlier computes hash values for form parameters without restricting the ability to trigger hash collisions predictably, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) by sending many crafted parameters.",
  "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"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "Plone"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.1.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4462"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/72018"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-pcwm-8jc3-qxvj"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/plone/plone"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/plone/PYSEC-2011-22.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2011-12/0181.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/903934"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.nruns.com/_downloads/advisory28122011.pdf"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2011-003.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:48:55Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}