#VU34248 Infinite loop in Apache Commons Text - CVE-2020-14040

Vulnerability identifier: #VU34248

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 6.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2020-14040

CWE-ID: CWE-835

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Apache Commons Text
Universal components / Libraries / Software for developers

Vendor: Apache Foundation

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The x/text package before 0.3.3 for Go has a vulnerability in encoding/unicode that could lead to the UTF-16 decoder entering an infinite loop, causing the program to crash or run out of memory. An attacker could provide a single byte to a UTF16 decoder instantiated with UseBOM or ExpectBOM to trigger an infinite loop if the String function on the Decoder is called, or the Decoder is passed to golang.org/x/text/transform.String.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Apache Commons Text: 0.3.3

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External links
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/golang-announce/bXVeAmGOqz0

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.