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The CVE-2025-XXXXX vulnerability in Apache IoTDB stems from an incomplete patch for a previous issue (CVE-2024-20XXX) concerning the handling of JWT (JSON Web Token) claims. The original vulnerability allowed for authentication bypass. The patch introduced a validation check for the ‘alg’ claim header to prevent algorithm confusion attacks. However, this new check contains a flaw where a malformed or unexpected JWT token causes the parser to enter an infinite loop or a state of excessive resource consumption. When the affected IoTDB instance receives a specifically crafted HTTP request containing a malicious JWT during the authentication process, the thread responsible for processing the request becomes stuck. This consumes CPU cycles indefinitely without terminating. An attacker can exploit this by sending multiple such requests, leading to resource exhaustion. Consequently, the service becomes unresponsive to legitimate user requests, resulting in a Denial-of-Service condition. The vulnerability is network-exploitable and requires no prior authentication.
Platform: Apache IoTDB
Version: 1.3.3 – 2.0.4
Vulnerability: DoS
Severity: Moderate
date: 2024-09-24
Prediction: Patch expected 2024-10-08
What Undercode Say:
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJub25lIn0...." http://iotdb-host:18080/rest/v1/query
// Code snippet simulating the flawed JWT validation loop
while (jwtParser.parseClaimsJwt(token).getHeader().getAlgorithm() == null) {
// Logic error leads to infinite loop on specific malformed input
}
How Exploit:
Craft a JWT token with a missing or null ‘alg’ header field and send it via an HTTP request to the IoTDB REST API endpoint. Repeating this request exhausts server threads.
Protection from this CVE:
Upgrade Apache IoTDB to version 2.0.5 or later. If an immediate upgrade is not possible, implement network-level controls to restrict access to the REST API port (default 18080) to trusted clients only.
Impact:
Service unavailability, high CPU utilization, and denial of service for all users until the application is restarted.
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Sources:
Reported By: github.com
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