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Resource Allocation Without LimitsWeakness · CWE-770

CVE-2024-38821

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Spring WebFlux applications that have Spring Security authorization rules on static resources can be bypassed under certain circumstances. For this to impact an application, all of the following must be true: * It must be a WebFlux application * It must be using Spring's static resources support * It must have a non-permitAll authorization rule applied to the static resources support

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 confidence

Spring WebFlux applications with Spring Security authorization rules on static resources can be bypassed when the application uses WebFlux, has static resource support configured, and applies non-permitAll authorization rules to those resources. This allows unauthorized access to protected static content.

MitigationUpdate Spring Security to the patched version addressing CVE-2024-38821. As a temporary measure, verify that static resources requiring protection use alternative authorization mechanisms or are not exposed through WebFlux static resource handling.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS 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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Spring WebFlux is in use
    Inspect project dependencies (pom.xml, build.gradle) for spring-boot-starter-webflux dependency. Spring MVC applications using spring-boot-starter-web are NOT affected.
    Affected if The application uses spring-boot-starter-webflux (reactive web) rather than spring-boot-starter-web (blocking web).
  2. Verify static resource handling is configured
    Check application configuration files (application.yml, application.properties) for spring.webflux.static-path-pattern or spring.web.resources.static-locations settings.
    Affected if Static resource handling is explicitly configured through WebFlux static resource support.
  3. Identify Spring Security authorization rules on static resources
    Inspect Spring Security configuration (SecurityWebFilterChain bean) for authorization rules targeting static resource paths (such as /static/**, /resources/**, or path patterns matching static content). Look for .permitAll() vs .authenticated() or other access restrictions.
    Affected if Authorization rules are defined for static resource paths that use .authenticated(), .hasRole(), .hasAuthority(), or any access restriction other than .permitAll().
  4. Check Spring Security version
    Review project dependencies for spring-security-version or the spring-boot-starter-security version. Compare against the fixed versions for CVE-2024-38821.
    Affected if The Spring Security version is earlier than the patched release for this CVE.

The environment is affected if it uses Spring WebFlux with configured static resources that have non-permitAll Spring Security authorization rules applied.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Spring Security to the patched version addressing CVE-2024-38821. As a temporary measure, verify that static resources requiring protection use alternative authorization mechanisms or are not exposed through WebFlux static resource handling.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Spring Framework 5.3.39+, 6.0.24+, 6.1.13+, 6.2.9+, or 6.3.4+ (depending on your release line)

  1. 1. Identify your current Spring Framework version by checking your project's pom.xml or build.gradle file
  2. 2. Determine which Spring Framework release line you are using (5.3.x, 6.0.x, 6.1.x, 6.2.x, or 6.3.x)
  3. 3. Upgrade Spring Framework to a fixed version: 5.3.39 or later for 5.3.x, 6.0.24 or later for 6.0.x, 6.1.13 or later for 6.1.x, 6.2.9 or later for 6.2.x, or 6.3.4 or later for 6.3.x
  4. 4. Rebuild and redeploy your application
  5. 5. Verify that static resource authorization rules are still enforced as expected
Caveat Spring Framework 6.x may have breaking changes from 5.x; review the Spring migration guides for your specific version jump

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-38821 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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