The software's resource pool is not large enough to handle peak
demand, which allows an attacker to prevent others from accessing the resource
by using a (relatively) large number of requests for
resources.
Extended Description
Frequently the consequence is a "flood" of connection or sessions.
Time of Introduction
Architecture and Design
Implementation
Operation
Applicable Platforms
Languages
All
Common Consequences
Scope
Effect
Availability
Integrity
Floods often cause a crash or other problem besides denial of the
resource itself; these are likely examples of *other* vulnerabilities,
not an insufficient resource pool.
Demonstrative Examples
Example 1
In the following snippet from a Tomcat configuration file, a JDBC
connection pool is defined with a maximum of 5 simultaneous connections
(with a 60 second timeout). In this case, it may be trivial for an attacker
to instigate a denial of service (DoS) by using up all of the available
connections in the pool.
Large number of connections without providing
credentials allows connection exhaustion.
Potential Mitigations
Phase
Description
Do not perform resource-intensive transactions for unauthenticated
users and/or invalid requests.
Consider implementing a velocity check mechanism which would detect
abusive behavior.
Consider load balancing as an option to handle heavy loads.
Make sure that resource handles are properly closed when no longer
needed.
Find the resouce intensive operations in your code and consider
protecting them from abuse (e.g. malicious automated script which runs
the resources out).
Other Notes
"Large" is relative to the size of the resource pool, which could be very
small. See examples.
Description
