# CVE-2004-2531: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service via CPU exhaustion in GnuTLS by sending certificates with long chains and large RSA keys.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 Oct 2005
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2xmw-23qh-mjvr

## What is CVE-2004-2531?

CVE-2004-2531 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Gnutls, published on 25 Oct 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

X.509 Certificate Signature Verification in Gnu transport layer security library (GnuTLS) 1.0.16 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via certificates containing long chains and signed with large RSA keys.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2004-2531?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Gnutls.

## How do I fix CVE-2004-2531?

No fix has been published for CVE-2004-2531 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2004-2531 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2004-2531 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Gnutls

- [CVE-2008-1948](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1948/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-5334](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5334/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-5336](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5336/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-5337](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5337/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2008-1949](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1949/): Null dereference in n/a (critical 9.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2004-2531 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2004-2531 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Gnutls, published on 25 Oct 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2004-2531 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gnu Gnutls. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2531/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2531/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-2531
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-2531
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2004-2531

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2531/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.