Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: Uncontrolled Recursion
CVE-2024-8176 is a high-severity uncontrolled recursion vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 from Red Hat, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 1.35% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 72% of scored CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Update SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP to V3.1.5 or a later version.
- Update SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP to V3.1.5 or a later version.
- Update SIPLUS S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP to V3.1.5 or a later version.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE; 4 further products are omitted here. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- NoneNo data is disclosed.
- Integrity
- NoneNothing can be modified.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. Scored by CNA (redhat.com).
Official description
A stack overflow vulnerability exists in the libexpat library due to the way it handles recursive entity expansion in XML documents. When parsing an XML document with deeply nested entity references, libexpat can be forced to recurse indefinitely, exhausting the stack space and causing a crash. This issue could lead to denial of service (DoS) or, in some cases, exploitable memory corruption, depending on the environment and library usage.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Uncontrolled Recursion
The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Ensure that an end condition will be reached under all logic conditions. The end condition may include checking against the depth of recursion and exiting with an error if the recursion goes too deep. The complexity of the end condition contributes to the effectiveness of this action.
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Patches and release notes
Other references
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:13681
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22033
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22034
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22035
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22607
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22785
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22842
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22871
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:3531
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:3734
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:3913
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4048
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4446
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4447
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4448
Other vulnerabilities in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- 8.8 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.9 High severity
- 7.3 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
Recent Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerabilities
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
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