# CVE-2023-28644: Reference fetch can saturate the server bandwidth for 10 seconds in nextcloud server

> An inefficient fetch operation in Nextcloud server can saturate bandwidth and cause denial of service, requiring an upgrade to mitigate.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 11 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9wmj-gp8v-477j

## What is CVE-2023-28644?

CVE-2023-28644 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Nextcloud Nextcloud Server, published on 30 Mar 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Nextcloud server is an open source home cloud implementation. In releases of the 25.0.x branch before 25.0.3 an inefficient fetch operation may impact server performances and/or can lead to a denial of service. This issue has been addressed and it is recommended that the Nextcloud Server is upgraded to 25.0.3. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28644?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nextcloud Nextcloud Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28644?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-28644 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-28644 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28644 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Nextcloud Nextcloud Server

- [CVE-2021-32802](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-32802/): Preview generation used third-party library not suited for user-generated content in Nextcloud server (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2023-26482](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-26482/): Scope of workflow operations is not validated in nextcloud server (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2018-3775](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3775/): Auth bypass in Nextcloud Server (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-35172](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-35172/): Nextcloud Server password reset endpoint is not brute force protected (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2023-32320](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32320/): Nextcloud Server's brute force protection allows someone to send more requests than intended (high 8.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-28644 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28644 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Nextcloud Nextcloud Server, published on 30 Mar 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28644 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Nextcloud Nextcloud 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-2023-28644/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28644/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28644
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28644
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28644

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28644/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.