# CVE-2023-2990: Fortra Globalscape Administration Server Denial of Service

> An attacker can crash the Globalscape EFT Administration Server by sending a specially crafted compressed message that causes infinite recursion.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 22 Jun 2023
- **Updated:** 4 Dec 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hcg7-gqc4-qc5q

## What is CVE-2023-2990?

CVE-2023-2990 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fortra Globalscape EFT, published on 22 Jun 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Fortra Globalscape EFT versions before 8.1.0.16 suffer from a denial of service vulnerability, where a compressed message that decompresses to itself can cause infinite recursion and crash the service

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-2990?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Globalscape Eft Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-2990?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-2990 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-2990 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-2990 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fortra Globalscape EFT

- [CVE-2023-2989](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2989/): Fortra Globalscape Administration Server Out of Bounds Memory Read (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2023-2991](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2991/): Fortra Globalscape Administration Server Information Disclosure (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-2990 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-2990 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fortra Globalscape EFT, published on 22 Jun 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-2023-2990 exists.

Affected product: Fortra Globalscape EFT. 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-2023-2990/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2990/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-2990
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2990
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-2990

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2990/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.