CVE-2023-43642: Snappy java Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-55g7-9cwv-5qfv
CVSS 7.5
CWE-770
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-43642 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) affecting Snappy java libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves snappy-java's missing upper bound check on chunk length can lead to denial of service (dos) impact. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 1.1.10.4.

CVE-2023-43642 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-43642
GHSA Identifier GHSA-55g7-9cwv-5qfv
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Affected Product Snappy java
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:3.1/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-2023-43642

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Snappy java 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.xerial.snappy:snappy-java fixed: 1.1.10.4
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.xerial.snappy</groupId>
    <artifactId>snappy-java</artifactId>
    <version>1.1.10.4</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.xerial.snappy

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2023-43642, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xerial.snappy

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Snappy java in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 1.1.10.4), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xerial.snappy 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-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling, where the product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated. In Snappy java, 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

### Summary snappy-java is a data compression library in Java. Its SnappyInputStream was found to be vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks when decompressing data with a too-large chunk size. Due to missing upper bound check on chunk length, an unrecoverable fatal error can occur. ### Scope All versions of snappy-java including the latest released version 1.1.10.3. A fix is applied in 1.1.10.4 ### Details While performing mitigation efforts related to [CVE-2023-34455](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-34455) in Confluent products, our Application Security team closely analyzed the fix that was accepted and merged into snappy-java version 1.1.10.1 in [this](https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/3bf67857fcf70d9eea56eed4af7c925671e8eaea) commit. The check on [line 421](https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/3bf67857fcf70d9eea56eed4af7c925671e8eaea#diff-c3e53610267092989965e8c7dd2d4417d355ff7f560f9e8075b365f32569079fR421) only attempts to check if chunkSize is not a negative value. We believe that this is an inadequate fix as it misses an upper-bounds check for overly positive values such as 0x7FFFFFFF (or (2,147,483,647 in decimal) before actually [attempting to allocate](https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/3bf67857fcf70d9eea56eed4af7c925671e8eaea#diff-c3e53610267092989965e8c7dd2d4417d355ff7f560f9e8075b365f32569079fR429) the provided unverified number of bytes via the “chunkSize” variable. This missing upper-bounds check can lead to the applications depending upon snappy-java to allocate an inappropriate number of bytes on the heap which can then cause an java.lang.OutOfMemoryError exception. Under some specific conditions and contexts, this can lead to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack with a direct impact on the availability of the dependent implementations based on the usage of the snappy-java library for compression/decompression needs. ### PoC Compile and run the following code: ``` package org.example; import org.xerial.snappy.SnappyInputStream; import java.io.*; public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { byte[] data = {-126, 'S', 'N', 'A', 'P', 'P', 'Y', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,(byte) 0x7f, (byte) 0xff, (byte) 0xff, (byte) 0xff}; SnappyInputStream in = new SnappyInputStream(new ByteArrayInputStream(data)); byte[] out = new byte[50]; try { in.read(out); } catch (Exception ignored) { } } } ``` ### Impact Denial of Service of applications dependent on snappy-java especially if `ExitOnOutOfMemoryError` or `CrashOnOutOfMemoryError` is configured on the JVM. ### Credits Jan Werner, Mukul Khullar and Bharadwaj Machiraju from Confluent's Application Security team. We kindly request for a new CVE ID to be assigned once you acknowledge this vulnerability.

CVE-2023-43642 Affected Snappy java Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
1.1.10.4
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
org.xerial.snappy:snappy-java
Maven
< 1.1.10.4
1.1.10.4

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-43642?
CVE-2023-43642 is a security vulnerability in Snappy java involving snappy-java's missing upper bound check on chunk length can lead to Denial of Service (DoS) impact under CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling.
Which Snappy java versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 1.1.10.4 across affected packages: org.xerial.snappy:snappy-java.
What version fixes CVE-2023-43642?
Upgrading to 1.1.10.4 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is snappy-java affected?
Yes, org.xerial.snappy:snappy-java is affected in releases prior to 1.1.10.4. Upgrade your dependency to 1.1.10.4 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-43642?
CVE-2023-43642 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-2023-43642?
CVE-2023-43642 is classified under CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2023-43642?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xerial.snappy'. 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-55g7-9cwv-5qfv",
  "modified" : "2023-09-25T21:43:08Z",
  "published" : "2023-09-25T18:30:18Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-43642" ],
  "summary" : "snappy-java's missing upper bound check on chunk length can lead to Denial of Service (DoS) impact",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nsnappy-java is a data compression library in Java. Its SnappyInputStream was found to be vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks when decompressing data with a too-large chunk size. Due to missing upper bound check on chunk length, an unrecoverable fatal error can occur. \n\n### Scope\n\nAll versions of snappy-java including the latest released version 1.1.10.3.  A fix is applied in 1.1.10.4\n\n### Details\nWhile performing mitigation efforts related to [CVE-2023-34455](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-34455) in Confluent products, our Application Security team closely analyzed the fix that was accepted and merged into snappy-java version 1.1.10.1 in [this](https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/3bf67857fcf70d9eea56eed4af7c925671e8eaea) commit. The check on [line 421](https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/3bf67857fcf70d9eea56eed4af7c925671e8eaea#diff-c3e53610267092989965e8c7dd2d4417d355ff7f560f9e8075b365f32569079fR421) only attempts to check if chunkSize is not a negative value. We believe that this is an inadequate fix as it misses an upper-bounds check for overly positive values such as 0x7FFFFFFF (or (2,147,483,647 in decimal) before actually [attempting to allocate](https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/3bf67857fcf70d9eea56eed4af7c925671e8eaea#diff-c3e53610267092989965e8c7dd2d4417d355ff7f560f9e8075b365f32569079fR429) the provided unverified number of bytes via the “chunkSize” variable. This missing upper-bounds check can lead to the applications depending upon snappy-java to allocate an inappropriate number of bytes on the heap which can then cause an  java.lang.OutOfMemoryError exception. Under some specific conditions and contexts, this can lead to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack with a direct impact on the availability of the dependent implementations based on the usage of the snappy-java library for compression/decompression needs.\n\n### PoC\nCompile and run the following code:\n```\npackage org.example;\nimport org.xerial.snappy.SnappyInputStream;\n\nimport java.io.*;\n\npublic class Main {\n\n    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {\n        byte[] data = {-126, 'S', 'N', 'A', 'P', 'P', 'Y', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,(byte) 0x7f, (byte) 0xff, (byte) 0xff, (byte) 0xff};\n        SnappyInputStream in = new SnappyInputStream(new ByteArrayInputStream(data));\n        byte[] out = new byte[50];\n        try {\n            in.read(out);\n        }\n        catch (Exception ignored) {\n        }\n    }\n}\n```\n\n### Impact\nDenial of Service of applications dependent on snappy-java especially if `ExitOnOutOfMemoryError` or `CrashOnOutOfMemoryError` is configured on the JVM.\n\n### Credits\nJan Werner, Mukul Khullar and Bharadwaj Machiraju from Confluent's Application Security team. \n\nWe kindly request for a new CVE ID to be assigned once you acknowledge this vulnerability.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "org.xerial.snappy:snappy-java"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.1.10.4"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 1.1.10.3"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/security/advisories/GHSA-55g7-9cwv-5qfv"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-43642"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/commit/9f8c3cf74223ed0a8a834134be9c917b9f10ceb5"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xerial/snappy-java/releases/tag/v1.1.10.4"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-770" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-09-25T18:30:18Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2023-09-25T20:15:11Z"
  }
}