7.5
HIGH
CVE-2021-42717
Apache ModSecurity NGINX Nested JSON Object Denial of Service (DoS)
Description

ModSecurity 3.x through 3.0.5 mishandles excessively nested JSON objects. Crafted JSON objects with nesting tens-of-thousands deep could result in the web server being unable to service legitimate requests. Even a moderately large (e.g., 300KB) HTTP request can occupy one of the limited NGINX worker processes for minutes and consume almost all of the available CPU on the machine. Modsecurity 2 is similarly vulnerable: the affected versions include 2.8.0 through 2.9.4.

INFO

Published Date :

Dec. 7, 2021, 10:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Sept. 3, 2022, 3:33 a.m.

Remotely Exploitable :

Yes !

Impact Score :

3.6

Exploitability Score :

3.9
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2021-42717 has a 1 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2021-42717 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Oracle zfs_storage_appliance_kit
2 Oracle http_server
1 Debian debian_linux
1 Trustwave modsecurity
1 F5 nginx_modsecurity_waf
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2021-42717.

URL Resource
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/05/msg00042.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5023 Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/modsecurity-dos-vulnerability-in-json-parsing-cve-2021-42717/ Exploit Mitigation Vendor Advisory

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Detection and Mitigation script for CVE-2021-42717 -> ModSecurity DoS Vulnerability in JSON Parsing

Shell

Updated: 1 year, 9 months ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Nov. 20, 2022, 6:01 p.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2021-42717 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2021-42717 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 14, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Sep. 03, 2022

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Reference Type https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/05/msg00042.html No Types Assigned https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/05/msg00042.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html No Types Assigned https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html Patch, Third Party Advisory
    Changed CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* OR *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:oracle:http_server:12.2.1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:oracle:http_server:12.2.1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:oracle:zfs_storage_appliance_kit:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jun. 02, 2022

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/05/msg00042.html [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Apr. 20, 2022

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html [No Types Assigned]
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Apr. 05, 2022

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Reference Type https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5023 No Types Assigned https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5023 Third Party Advisory
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Dec. 19, 2021

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5023 [No Types Assigned]
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Dec. 10, 2021

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V2 NIST (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P)
    Added CVSS V3.1 NIST AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Changed Reference Type https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/modsecurity-dos-vulnerability-in-json-parsing-cve-2021-42717/ No Types Assigned https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/modsecurity-dos-vulnerability-in-json-parsing-cve-2021-42717/ Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
    Added CWE NIST CWE-674
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:trustwave:modsecurity:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 2.0.0 up to (excluding) 2.9.5 *cpe:2.3:a:trustwave:modsecurity:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.0.0 up to (excluding) 3.0.6
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx_modsecurity_waf:r24:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx_modsecurity_waf:r25:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2021-42717 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2021-42717 weaknesses.

Exploit Prediction

EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days.

0.43 }} 0.05%

score

0.74755

percentile

CVSS31 - Vulnerability Scoring System
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Attack Complexity
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