CVE-2023-42503

Application hang via unvalidated PAX timestamps

Published Sep 14, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Apache Commons Compress 1.22 through 1.23 allows attackers to hang applications with a malformed TAR file. The PAX timestamp parser passes unvalidated atime, ctime, mtime, and LIBARCHIVE.creationtime values with huge fractions or exponents to BigDecimal. An application must parse the archive through CompressorStreamFactory auto-detection, TarArchiveInputStream, or TarFile; processing can monopolize CPU for hours.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.60%
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 Apache Commons Compress 1.22 through 1.23 allows attackers to hang applications with a malformed TAR file. The PAX timestamp parser passes unvalidated atime, ctime, mtime, and LIBARCHIVE.creationtime values with huge fractions or exponents to BigDecimal. An application must parse the archive through CompressorStreamFactory auto-detection, TarArchiveInputStream, or TarFile; processing can monopolize CPU for hours.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-42503
Published
Sep 14, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
The Apache Software Foundation
Product
Apache Commons Compress
Classifications
CWE-400, CWE-20, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 14, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 13, 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=1.22 <1.24.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

The Apache Software Foundation · Apache Commons Compressversion=1.22 <1.24.0

Published CVSS scores

5.5GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CWE-20Improper Input Validation
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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