GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW

WhoDB Allows Unbounded Memory Consumption in Authentication Middleware Can Lead to Denial of Service

• Severity: High
• Authentication Required: No (public API endpoint)
• Affected Components: All API endpoints (/api/*)
• Impact Type: Denial of Service

Any client can send arbitrarily large request bodies to the API endpoints. Due to the multiple copies created during processing and lack of size limits, this can quickly exhaust server memory, potentially affecting all users of the system. The high concurrent request limits and long timeout make this particularly effective for DoS attacks.

Fix considerations:

1. Implement request body size limits using http.MaxBytesReader
2. Reduce the request timeout from 10 minutes
3. Implement per-client rate limiting
4. Consider streaming body processing instead of loading entirely into memory

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

GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW 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. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.

Kodem intelligence

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1. What is GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW? GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in github.com/clidey/whodb/core (go), affecting versions < 0.0.0-20241219102844-e8b608d35422. No fixed version is listed yet. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
2. How severe is GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW? GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW 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 github.com/clidey/whodb/core are affected by GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW? github.com/clidey/whodb/core (go) versions < 0.0.0-20241219102844-e8b608d35422 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW? No fixed version is listed for GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
5. Is GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW 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 GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW 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 GHSA-5PF6-CQ2V-23WW? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Apply input size limits and request rate limiting. Reject input that exceeds reasonable bounds before processing begins.

Other vulnerabilities in github.com/clidey/whodb/core