CVE-2024-53476
📋 TL;DR
A race condition vulnerability in SimplCommerce allows attackers to bypass inventory restrictions by simultaneously submitting purchase requests from multiple accounts for the same product. This can lead to overselling when stock is limited, potentially causing financial loss and unfulfilled orders. All SimplCommerce deployments using the vulnerable commit are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- SimplCommerce
⚠️ 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.
- 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 inventory depletion through coordinated attacks, leading to significant financial losses, inability to fulfill legitimate orders, and reputational damage.
Likely Case
Intermittent overselling during high-traffic periods, resulting in some unfulfilled orders and minor financial impact.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper inventory reconciliation procedures and monitoring in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires creating multiple accounts and coordinating simultaneous purchase requests. The GitHub repository contains proof-of-concept code demonstrating the vulnerability.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check GitHub issue #1111 for specific fix commit
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/simplcommerce/SimplCommerce/issues/1111
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Pull the latest SimplCommerce repository from GitHub
2. Check issue #1111 for the specific fix commit
3. Update to the patched version
4. Restart the application
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement database-level locking
allAdd pessimistic locking or optimistic concurrency control at the database level for inventory updates
-- Database-specific implementation required
-- Example for SQL Server: BEGIN TRANSACTION; UPDATE Inventory SET quantity = quantity - 1 WHERE product_id = X AND quantity > 0; COMMIT;
Rate limiting per product
allImplement rate limiting on purchase requests for the same product ID
-- Application-level implementation
-- Use middleware to limit requests per product per time window
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement manual inventory reconciliation procedures after high-traffic periods
- Enable detailed logging of all purchase transactions for audit purposes
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if your SimplCommerce deployment uses commit 230310c8d7a0408569b292c5a805c459d47a1d8f or earlier versions by examining the git historyCheck Version:
git log --oneline -1Verify Fix Applied:
Test concurrent purchase requests for the same low-stock item using multiple accounts to ensure inventory is properly decremented📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple purchase requests for same product ID within milliseconds
- Inventory quantity going negative
- Failed inventory validation errors
Network Indicators:
- Bursts of POST requests to purchase endpoints from different IPs
- Unusual purchase patterns from newly created accounts
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (uri_path="/cart/add" OR uri_path="/checkout") AND status=200 | stats count by product_id, _time span=1s | where count > 3