CVE-2023-25151Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service interruption via unbounded URI metric cardinality

Published Feb 8, 2023 · Updated Mar 10, 2025

Uncontrolled resource consumption in OpenTelemetry-Go Contrib 0.38.0 allows remote attackers to interrupt instrumented HTTP services. The otelhttp ServerRequest path records each full request URI, including its query string, as the http.target attribute on three metrics. With cumulative temporality, repeated requests carrying unique random queries retain unbounded attribute sets and drive persistent memory growth until service interruption.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.97%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Uncontrolled resource consumption in OpenTelemetry-Go Contrib 0.38.0 allows remote attackers to interrupt instrumented HTTP services. The otelhttp ServerRequest path records each full request URI, including its query string, as the http.target attribute on three metrics. With cumulative temporality, repeated requests carrying unique random queries retain unbounded attribute sets and drive persistent memory growth until service interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-25151
Published
Feb 8, 2023
Updated
Mar 10, 2025
Vendor
OpenTelemetry
Product
OpenTelemetry-Go Contrib
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 8, 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

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Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=>= 0.38.0, < 0.39.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

OpenTelemetry · OpenTelemetry-Go Contribversion=>= 0.38.0, < 0.39.0

Published CVSS scores

7.5GitHubCVSS: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.

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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-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

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

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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