CVE-2024-5216
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in mintplex-labs/anything-llm allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service by creating users with excessively large usernames, which makes the user management panel unresponsive. This affects administrators who need to manage users and can lead to operational disruption. The vulnerability impacts systems running vulnerable versions of anything-llm.
💻 Affected Systems
- mintplex-labs/anything-llm
📦 What is this software?
Anythingllm by Mintplexlabs
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete administrative paralysis where attackers create multiple users with large usernames, preventing all user management actions and potentially requiring system restoration from backup.
Likely Case
Administrators unable to manage user accounts, leading to compromised security posture as malicious users remain active and system performance degrades.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper input validation and resource limits in place, allowing normal administrative functions.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires ability to create user accounts, which typically requires some level of access, but the attack itself is simple - just creating users with large usernames.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Commit 3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72f
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/mintplex-labs/anything-llm/commit/3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72f
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update to the latest version of anything-llm that includes commit 3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72f. 2. Restart the application. 3. Verify the fix by checking that username length is now properly limited.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Manual username length restriction
allImplement application-level validation to restrict username length before the official patch is applied.
# Requires modifying application code to add username length validation
Temporary user creation restriction
allDisable new user creation until patched to prevent exploitation.
# Disable user registration endpoints or implement rate limiting
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block requests with excessively long username parameters
- Monitor user creation logs for unusually long usernames and implement alerting
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if your anything-llm version includes commit 3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72f. If not, attempt to create a user with a very long username (e.g., 10,000+ characters) and see if it's accepted.Check Version:
git log --oneline | head -20 # Check for commit 3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72fVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, attempt to create a user with a very long username - it should be rejected or truncated according to the new limits.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- User creation events with unusually long usernames
- Failed user management operations in admin logs
- High memory or CPU usage spikes during user management
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to user creation endpoints with large payloads
- Increased response times for admin panel requests
SIEM Query:
source="application.log" AND ("user created" OR "new user") AND username.length > 100🔗 References
- https://github.com/mintplex-labs/anything-llm/commit/3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72f
- https://huntr.com/bounties/8ec14991-ee35-493d-a8d3-21a1cfd57869
- https://github.com/mintplex-labs/anything-llm/commit/3ef009de73c837f9025df8bba62572885c70c72f
- https://huntr.com/bounties/8ec14991-ee35-493d-a8d3-21a1cfd57869
