CVE-2023-25578

Denial of service vulnerability when parsing multipart request body

The request body parsing in starlite allows a potentially unauthenticated
attacker to consume a large amount of CPU time and RAM.

Details

The multipart body parser processes an unlimited number of file parts.
The multipart body parser processes an unlimited number of field parts.

This is a remote, potentially unauthenticated Denial of Service vulnerability.

This vulnerability affects applications with a request handler that accepts
a Body(media_type=RequestEncodingType.MULTI_PART).

The large amount of CPU time required for processing requests can block all
available worker processes and significantly delay or slow down the processing
of legitimate user requests.
The large amount of RAM accumulated while processing requests can lead to
Out-Of-Memory kills.
Complete DoS is achievable by sending many concurrent multipart requests in a
loop.

Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.

CVE-2023-25578 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.51.2); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

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1. What is CVE-2023-25578? CVE-2023-25578 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in starlite (pip), affecting versions < 1.51.2. It is fixed in 1.51.2. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
2. How severe is CVE-2023-25578? CVE-2023-25578 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of starlite are affected by CVE-2023-25578? starlite (pip) versions < 1.51.2 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2023-25578? Yes. CVE-2023-25578 is fixed in 1.51.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2023-25578 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-25578 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2023-25578 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2023-25578? Upgrade starlite to 1.51.2 or later.

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