CVE-2016-9589: Wildfly undertow Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-p4xg-cpr9-vwvj
CVSS 7.5
CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2016-9589 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Wildfly undertow libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves red hat wildfly dos. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 11.0.0.Beta1.

CVE-2016-9589 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2016-9589
GHSA Identifier GHSA-p4xg-cpr9-vwvj
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Wildfly undertow
Package Ecosystem Maven
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:3.0/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-2016-9589

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

org.wildfly:wildfly-undertow fixed: 11.0.0.Beta1
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.wildfly</groupId>
    <artifactId>wildfly-undertow</artifactId>
    <version>11.0.0.Beta1</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.wildfly

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2016-9589, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.wildfly

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Wildfly undertow in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 11.0.0.Beta1), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.wildfly command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

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 Wildfly undertow, 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

Undertow in Red Hat wildfly before version 11.0.0.Beta1 is vulnerable to a resource exhaustion resulting in a denial of service. Undertow keeps a cache of seen HTTP headers in persistent connections. It was found that this cache can easily exploited to fill memory with garbage, up to "max-headers" (default 200) * "max-header-size" (default 1MB) per active TCP connection.

CVE-2016-9589 Affected Wildfly undertow Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
11.0.0.Beta1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
org.wildfly:wildfly-undertow
Maven
< 11.0.0.Beta1
11.0.0.Beta1

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2016-9589?
CVE-2016-9589 is a security vulnerability in Wildfly undertow involving Red Hat Wildfly DoS under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Wildfly undertow versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 11.0.0.Beta1 across affected packages: org.wildfly:wildfly-undertow.
What version fixes CVE-2016-9589?
Upgrading to 11.0.0.Beta1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is wildfly-undertow affected?
Yes, org.wildfly:wildfly-undertow is affected in releases prior to 11.0.0.Beta1. Upgrade your dependency to 11.0.0.Beta1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-9589?
CVE-2016-9589 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-9589?
CVE-2016-9589 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 Maven dependencies for CVE-2016-9589?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.wildfly'. 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
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-p4xg-cpr9-vwvj",
  "modified" : "2023-11-02T16:05:42Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-13T01:38:28Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-9589" ],
  "summary" : "Red Hat Wildfly DoS",
  "details" : "Undertow in Red Hat wildfly before version 11.0.0.Beta1 is vulnerable to a resource exhaustion resulting in a denial of service. Undertow keeps a cache of seen HTTP headers in persistent connections. It was found that this cache can easily exploited to fill memory with garbage, up to \"max-headers\" (default 200) * \"max-header-size\" (default 1MB) per active TCP connection.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "org.wildfly:wildfly-undertow"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "11.0.0.Beta1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-9589"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0872"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0873"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3454"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3455"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3456"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3458"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1404782"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wildfly/wildfly"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://web.archive.org/web/20200227180917/https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97060"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0830.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0831.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0832.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0834.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0876.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-07-28T21:38:39Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2018-03-12T15:29:00Z"
  }
}