CVE-2024-22871 - Critical DoS Vulnerability Found In Clojure Versions 1.20 to 1.12.-alpha5

A recent discovery has been made regarding a critical security vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-22871, found in the programming language Clojure. This vulnerability impacts Clojure versions from 1.20 to 1.12.-alpha5. It allows an attacker to potentially cause a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This blog post will delve into the details of this vulnerability, including how it can be exploited, the relevant code snippets, and references to the original sources. The aim of this post is to inform developers and programmers about this serious security flaw and provide the necessary information on how to mitigate it.

Vulnerability Details

This security issue resides in the clojure.core$partial$fn__592 function, which is used in the Clojure programming language for partial applications of functions. When an attacker exploits this vulnerability, they can trigger a DoS attack, causing the targeted application to crash, malfunction, or become unresponsive. This can lead to loss of data, poor application performance, or even application failure. Consequently, it is essential for developers to patch and upgrade their Clojure applications immediately to avoid exposing their systems to potential security threats.

Exploit Overview

The vulnerability can be triggered by overflowing the stack with a large number of partial functions, leading to a stack overflow error and causing the application to crash. An attacker can achieve this by crafting a malicious input that recursively calls the clojure.core$partial$fn__592 function with a large number of arguments.

Code Snippet (Proof of Concept)

Here is a simple proof-of-concept code snippet that demonstrates how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability to trigger a stack overflow by continually calling the clojure.core$partial$fn__592 function:

(defn exploit-stack-overflow []
  (let [recursive-function (partial exploit-stack-overflow) malicious-input (* * * * *)] ;; add a large number of partial function calls
    (recursive-function malicious-input)))

(exploit-stack-overflow)

When executed, this code snippet will lead to a stack overflow and crash the application, effectively causing a Denial of Service attack.

Original References

1. CVE Details Link: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-22871

2. The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) Link: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-22871

Mitigation Steps

Developers using Clojure versions 1.20 to 1.12.-alpha5 are urged to upgrade their applications immediately. Patching the affected Clojure versions or upgrading to the latest version, such as Clojure 1.12.-alpha6 or newer, is recommended to avoid exposing the systems to potential security threats.

Conclusion

The CVE-2024-22871 vulnerability is a critical security flaw that affects certain Clojure versions, potentially allowing attackers to execute a Denial of Service attack. By understanding the nature of this vulnerability and applying the necessary patches, developers can safeguard their applications against malicious actors seeking to exploit this dangerous security issue.

Timeline

Published on: 02/29/2024 02:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 08/13/2024 19:35:03 UTC