H2O Vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) via `HEAD` Request

Description

A vulnerability in the typeahead endpoint of h2oai/h2o-3 version 3.46.0 allows for a denial of service. The endpoint performs a HEAD request to verify the existence of a specified resource without setting a timeout. An attacker can exploit this by sending multiple requests to an attacker-controlled server that hangs, causing the application to block and become unresponsive to other requests.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
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Repository advisory
Source code
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Published (advisory)
2025-03-20 12:32:47 UTC
Updated
2025-03-20 20:29:12 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2025-03-20 20:29:11 UTC
NVD published
2025-03-20

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.10% 28.43%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
7.5 3.0
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-1088 Synchronous Access of Remote Resource without Timeout

Affected packages (2)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
pip h2o >= 3.2.0.1, <= 3.46.0
maven ai.h2o:h2o-core >= 3.2.0.1, <= 3.46.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence