CVE-2013-7298
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedquery_params.cpp in cxxtools before 2.2.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite recursion and crash) via an HTTP query that contains %% (double percent) characters.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe cxxtools library's query_params.cpp contains a parsing vulnerability where HTTP query strings containing '%%' (double percent characters) trigger infinite recursion, causing a denial of service. The percent-decoding logic does not properly handle this edge case, leading to uncontrolled recursion and crash.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 2.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify cxxtools library versionRun 'dpkg -l | grep cxxtools' on Debian-based systems, or 'rpm -qa | grep cxxtools' on Red Hat-based systems. Alternatively, check the library file version with 'strings /usr/lib/libcxxtools.so 2>/dev/null | grep -i version' or examine headers in /usr/include/cxxtools/version.hAffected if The installed version is 2.2 or earlier, or the version cannot be determined but the library is present
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Locate the query_params.cpp componentSearch for the query_params.cpp source file in the application or library installation: 'find /usr -name query_params.cpp 2>/dev/null' or check if libcxxtools-dev package is installed containing this fileAffected if The query_params.cpp file exists in the environment, indicating the vulnerable parsing logic is present
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Verify HTTP query string processing is enabledExamine application configuration files and source code for usage of cxxtools query parameter parsing functions, such as 'cxxtools::queryParams' or 'query_params' API calls handling HTTP request query stringsAffected if The application or service processes HTTP query strings using the cxxtools library, making the infinite recursion vulnerability reachable
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Test for vulnerability with double-percent inputSend an HTTP request with a query string containing '%%' (for example, 'http://host/page?param=%%') to the affected application/service and observe if it causes excessive CPU usage, hang, or crashAffected if The application hangs, crashes, or exhibits infinite loop behavior when processing '%%' in query parameters
A system is affected if it runs any version of cxxtools library at or below 2.2 that processes HTTP query strings containing double percent characters ('%%'), causing denial of service through infinite recursion.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade cxxtools to version 2.2.1 or later, which contains the fix for proper handling of double percent characters in query parameter parsing.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-7298 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-7298 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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