CVE-2021-32848Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service interruption via exponential search-regex backtracking

Published Feb 20, 2023 · Updated Mar 10, 2025

Regular expression denial of service in Octobox before pull request 2807 allows remote attackers to hang the service via crafted searches. The SearchParser operator expression treats backslash-character pairs ambiguously inside quoted values, creating exponentially many backtracking paths when the closing quote is absent. Network access to the search interface is sufficient; the documented effect is processing delay and service interruption, not data disclosure or modification.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability1.04%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Regular expression denial of service in Octobox before pull request 2807 allows remote attackers to hang the service via crafted searches. The SearchParser operator expression treats backslash-character pairs ambiguously inside quoted values, creating exponentially many backtracking paths when the closing quote is absent. Network access to the search interface is sufficient; the documented effect is processing delay and service interruption, not data disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-32848
Published
Feb 20, 2023
Updated
Mar 10, 2025
Vendor
Octobox
Product
Octobox
Classifications
CWE-770, CWE-1333, CAPEC-492, T1499.003
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 20, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 10, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=2807 <2807

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Octobox · Octoboxversion=2807 <2807

Published CVSS scores

7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.5GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
CWE-1333Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
CAPEC-492Regular Expression Exponential Blowup
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo