# CVE-2023-25151: DoS vulnerability for high cardinality metrics in opentelemetry-go-contrib > Attackers can cause memory exhaustion and denial of service by sending requests with unique query strings, affecting applications using the OpenTelemetry Go contrib library. - **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Over the internet - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 8 Feb 2023 - **Updated:** 10 Mar 2025 - **Also known as:** CLEANSTART-2026-DN40757, CLEANSTART-2026-PP55064, GHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh, GO-2023-1546, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-25151 ## What is CVE-2023-25151? CVE-2023-25151 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in open-telemetry opentelemetry-go-contrib, published on 8 Feb 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. ### Official description opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of `go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp` uses the `httpconv.ServerRequest` function to annotate metric measurements for the `http.server.request_content_length`, `http.server.response_content_length`, and `http.server.duration` instruments. The `ServerRequest` function sets the `http.target` attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when `cumulative` temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue. Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-25151? 5 open source packages ship an affected version, including go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp and go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego. It affects 1 product. | Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp` | Go | From 0.38.0 | 0.39.0 | | `go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp` | Go | From 0.38.0 | 0.39.0 | | `go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp` | Go | From 0.38.0 | 0.39.0 | | `go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego` | Go | From 0.38.0 | 0.39.0 | | `go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego` | Go | From 0.38.0 | 0.39.0 | Products: Linuxfoundation Opentelemetry-Go Contrib. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-25151? Upgrade go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp to 0.39.0 or later. ## Is CVE-2023-25151 being exploited? It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-25151 exists. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2023-25151 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-25151 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in open-telemetry opentelemetry-go-contrib, published on 8 Feb 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-25151 exists. Affected packages and fixed versions: - go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp (Go): affected from 0.38.0; fixed in 0.39.0 - go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp (Go): affected from 0.38.0; fixed in 0.39.0 - go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp (Go): affected from 0.38.0; fixed in 0.39.0 - go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego (Go): affected from 0.38.0; fixed in 0.39.0 - go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego (Go): affected from 0.38.0; fixed in 0.39.0 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-2023-25151/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25151/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-25151 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-25151 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-25151 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25151/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.