# CVE-2021-20252: Denial of service in 3scale/backend

> An authenticated user can cause a denial of service in the 3scale backend by submitting requests with excessively large date ranges.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 23 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-qjp3-fvjv-f8w7

## What is CVE-2021-20252?

CVE-2021-20252 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in 3scale/backend, published on 23 Feb 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2. The 3scale backend does not perform preventive handling on user-requested date ranges in certain queries allowing a malicious authenticated user to submit a request with a sufficiently large date range to eventually yield an internal server error resulting in denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-20252?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat 3scale Api Management.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-20252?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-20252 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-20252 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20252 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in 3scale/backend

- [CVE-2022-1414](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-1414/): Cross-site scripting in 3scale-amp-system (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-10295](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-10295/): Auth bypass in Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2 (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2019-14852](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14852/): A flaw was found in 3scale’s APIcast gateway that enabled the TLS 1.0 protocol. (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-14388](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14388/): Missing authorization in Red Hat 3scale API Management (medium 6.3)
- [CVE-2023-4910](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4910/): 3scale-admin-portal: logged out users tokens can be accessed (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-20252 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-20252 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in 3scale/backend, published on 23 Feb 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20252 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: 3scale/backend. 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-2021-20252/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20252/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-20252
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-20252
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-20252

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20252/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.