CVE-2024-37298 – This vulnerability in gorilla/schema allows att... (How to Fix)

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in gorilla/schema allows attackers to cause memory exhaustion by exploiting sparse slice functionality when decoding structs containing arrays of other structs. Any application using schema.Decoder.Decode() with such structs is vulnerable. The vulnerability enables denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

gorilla/schema

Versions: All versions prior to 1.4.1

Operating Systems: All platforms running Go applications

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects applications using schema.Decoder.Decode() on structs with []struct{...} fields.

⚠️ Manual Verification Required

This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.

Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).

🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.

Recommended Actions:

Review the CVE details at NVD
Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete service unavailability due to memory exhaustion, potentially causing application crashes and extended downtime.

🟠

Likely Case

Degraded performance and intermittent service disruptions from memory exhaustion attacks.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact with proper input validation and resource limits in place.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - Web applications accepting user input through forms are directly exposed.

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal applications could still be exploited by authenticated users or through other attack vectors.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: LIKELY

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: LOW

Exploitation requires sending specially crafted form data to vulnerable endpoints.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 1.4.1

Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/gorilla/schema/security/advisories/GHSA-3669-72x9-r9p3

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Update go.mod to require gorilla/schema v1.4.1 or later
2. Run 'go get github.com/gorilla/schema@v1.4.1'
3. Rebuild and redeploy application
4. Restart affected services

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Input validation and size limits

all

Implement strict input validation and limit the size of incoming form data

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Implement rate limiting and request size restrictions on form submission endpoints
Deploy WAF rules to detect and block suspicious form submissions

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check go.mod for gorilla/schema version <1.4.1 and review code for use of schema.Decoder.Decode() with []struct{...} fields

Check Version:

grep gorilla/schema go.mod

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm go.mod requires gorilla/schema >=1.4.1 and test form submission endpoints with various inputs

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unusually large memory consumption spikes
Application crashes or restarts after form submissions
High number of large POST requests

Network Indicators:

Large form submissions with repeated nested structures
Spikes in POST request sizes

SIEM Query:

source="application_logs" AND ("out of memory" OR "panic" OR "memory allocation") AND "form submission"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2024-37298

CVSS v3 Score: 7.5 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWE: CWE-770

Published: July 1, 2024

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

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