Memory leak in micronaut-core

Description

Impact

Sending an invalid Content Type header leads to memory leak in DefaultArgumentConversionContext as this type is erroneously used in static state.

Patches

The problem is patched in Micronaut 3.2.7 and above.

Workarounds

The default content type binder can be replaced in an existing Micronaut application to mitigate the issue:

package example;

import java.util.List;
import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Replaces;
import io.micronaut.core.convert.ConversionService;
import io.micronaut.http.MediaType;
import io.micronaut.http.bind.DefaultRequestBinderRegistry;
import io.micronaut.http.bind.binders.RequestArgumentBinder;
import jakarta.inject.Singleton;

@Singleton
@Replaces(DefaultRequestBinderRegistry.class)
class FixedRequestBinderRegistry extends DefaultRequestBinderRegistry {

    public FixedRequestBinderRegistry(ConversionService conversionService,
                                      List<RequestArgumentBinder> binders) {
        super(conversionService, binders);
    }

    @Override
    protected void registerDefaultConverters(ConversionService<?> conversionService) {
        super.registerDefaultConverters(conversionService);
        conversionService.addConverter(CharSequence.class, MediaType.class, charSequence -> {
            try {
                return MediaType.of(charSequence);
            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                return null;
            }
        });
    }
}

References

Commit that introduced the vulnerability https://github.com/micronaut-projects/micronaut-core/commit/b8ec32c311689667c69ae7d9f9c3b3a8abc96fe3

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2022-01-21 23:19:36 UTC
Updated
2023-02-03 05:04:54 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2022-01-19 19:56:29 UTC
NVD published
2022-01-18

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.32% 54.67%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.3 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Credits

  • chrischiappe (analyst)
  • larrycarasco (analyst)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven io.micronaut:micronaut-http < 3.2.7 3.2.7

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence