# CVE-2007-3303: Denial of service in n/a

> Local users can cause denial of service in Apache httpd with Prefork MPM by killing workers or forcing excessive forking.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 Jun 2007
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2007-3303, GHSA-hxj5-ccfq-hvjx

## What is CVE-2007-3303?

CVE-2007-3303 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Apache Http Server, published on 20 Jun 2007. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Apache httpd 2.0.59 and 2.2.4, with the Prefork MPM module, allows local users to cause a denial of service via certain code sequences executed in a worker process that (1) stop request processing by killing all worker processes and preventing creation of replacements or (2) hang the system by forcing the master process to fork an arbitrarily large number of worker processes.  NOTE: This might be an inherent design limitation of Apache with respect to worker processes in hosted environments.

Weakness: CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2007-3303?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Apache Http Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2007-3303?

No fix has been published for CVE-2007-3303 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2007-3303 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2007-3303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Apache Http Server

- [CVE-2021-42013](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42013/): Apache HTTP Server Path Traversal (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-38475](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38475/): Apache HTTP Server Improper Escaping of Output (critical 9.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-40438](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40438/): Apache HTTP Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) (critical 9.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-0211](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-0211/): Apache HTTP Server Privilege Escalation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-41773](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41773/): Apache HTTP Server Path Traversal (high 7.5, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2007-3303 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2007-3303 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Apache Http Server, published on 20 Jun 2007. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2007-3303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Apache Http Server. 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-2007-3303/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-3303/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2007-3303
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2007-3303
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2007-3303

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-3303/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.