# CVE-2023-34389: Allocation of resources without limits could lead to denial of service

> A remote authenticated attacker can cause indefinite system unavailability in the SEL-451 relay due to unlimited resource allocation.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Dec 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j3q9-9pj5-gf2x

## What is CVE-2023-34389?

CVE-2023-34389 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories SEL-451, published on 30 Nov 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability in the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories SEL-451 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to make the system unavailable for an indefinite amount of time.

See product Instruction Manual Appendix A dated 20230830 for more details.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-34389?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Selinc Sel-451 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-34389?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-34389 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-34389 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-34389 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories SEL-451

- [CVE-2023-31176](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31176/): Insufficient entropy vulnerability could lead to authentication bypass (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-34388](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34388/): Improper authentication could lead to session hijacking (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-34390](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34390/): Improper input validation could lead to denial of service (medium 4.5)
- [CVE-2023-31177](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31177/): Improper neutralizataion of input could lead to execution of arbitrary code (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-34389 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-34389 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories SEL-451, published on 30 Nov 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-34389 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories SEL-451. 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-2023-34389/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34389/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-34389
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-34389
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-34389

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34389/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.