Heap Exhaustion in Apache Neethi via WS-Policy

Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves a denial of service attack where a specially crafted WS-Policy document can include excessive content inside a policy assertion. The Neethi library copies this content into memory without properly limiting its size, leading to heap exhaustion and system slowdown or crash.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking Apache Neethi versions and monitoring for memory exhaustion during WS-Policy processing. Check installed Neethi version with: 'mvn dependency:tree | grep neethi' or 'find / -name neethi*.jar'. Monitor system memory usage during policy processing. If using automated tools, scan for WS-Policy documents with unusually large assertions.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability can cause your system to run out of memory, resulting in degraded performance, crashes, or service unavailability. It primarily affects applications using Apache Neethi for WS-Policy processing.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily causes a denial-of-service condition by exhausting memory, which could disrupt services handling sensitive data. While not directly violating GDPR or HIPAA, such disruptions may impact availability requirements for systems processing personal or health data, potentially leading to compliance issues if service interruptions occur during critical operations.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Apache Neethi to version 3.2.4 or later to address the heap exhaustion issue caused by crafted WS-Policy documents.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0