CVE-2023-50248 CKAN out of memory error when submitting the dataset form with a specially-crafted field
An authenticated attacker with dataset creation permissions can cause a server out-of-memory denial of service by submitting a specially crafted field to the dataset form.
- 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
What is CVE-2023-50248?
CVE-2023-50248 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in ckan, published on 13 Dec 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
CKAN is an open-source data management system for powering data hubs and data portals. Starting in version 2.0.0 and prior to versions 2.9.10 and 2.10.3, when submitting a POST request to the `/dataset/new` endpoint (including either the auth cookie or the `Authorization` header) with a specially-crafted field, an attacker can create an out-of-memory error in the hosting server. To trigger this error, the attacker need to have permissions to create or edit datasets. This vulnerability has been patched in CKAN 2.10.3 and 2.9.10.
Weakness: CWE-130
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-50248?
5 open source packages ship an affected version, including ckan. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
ckan PyPI | From 2.0 | 2.9.10, 2.10.3 |
ckan PyPI | From 2.0 | 2.9.10 |
ckan PyPI | From 2.0 | 2.9.10 |
ckan PyPI | From 2.10.0 | 2.10.3 |
ckan PyPI | From 2.10.0 | 2.10.3 |
Products include Okfn Ckan.
How do I fix CVE-2023-50248?
Upgrade ckan to a fixed version for your release line: 2.9.10 or 2.10.3.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2023-50248 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-50248 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in ckan
- CVE-2023-32321 CKAN remote code execution and private information access via crafted resource ids
- CVE-2023-32696 Excessive permissions for ckan user
- CVE-2022-43685 CKAN contains Improper Authentication leading to account takeover
- CVE-2023-22746 CKAN is vulnerable to session secret shared across instances using Docker images
- CVE-2026-42031 CKAN: Unauthenticated SQL Injection and Authorization Bypass in `datastore_search_sql`
Sources
Also known as GHSA-7fgc-89cx-w8j5, PYSEC-2026-1249.