CVE-2023-2253 — A flaw was found in the `/v2/_catalog` endpoint in distribution/distribution, wh

A flaw was found in the `/v2/_catalog` endpoint in distribution/distribution, which accepts a parameter to control the maximum number of records returned (query string: `n`). This vulnerability allows a malicious user to submit an unreasonably large value for `n,` causing the all

01What is this vulnerability?

A flaw was found in the `/v2/_catalog` endpoint in distribution/distribution, which accepts a parameter to control the maximum number of records returned (query string: `n`). This vulnerability allows a malicious user to submit an unreasonably large value for `n,` causing the allocation of a massive string array, possibly causing a denial of service through excessive use of memory.

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
n	a / distribution/distribution	NA

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00.000Z
• Last modified: 2025-01-07T21:30:03.775Z

09References

• bugzilla.redhat.com — https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2189886
• lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/06/msg00035.html