CAPEC-229
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup
This attack exploits certain serialized data parsers (e.g., XML, YAML, etc.) which manage data in an inefficient manner. The attacker crafts an serialized data file with multiple configuration parameters in the same dataset. In a vulnerable parser, this results in a denial of service condition where CPU resources are exhausted because of the parsing algorithm. The weakness being exploited is tied to parser implementation and not language specific.
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Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-229: Serialized Data Parameter Blowup: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/229.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/229?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
How the attack unfolds
Explore
The attacker looks for a way in.
[Survey the target] Using a browser or an automated tool, an attacker records all instances of web services to process requests using serialized data.
2 techniques
- Use an automated tool to record all instances of URLs to process requests from serialized data.
- Use a browser to manually explore the website and analyze how the application processes requests using serialized data.
Exploit
They carry out the attack.
[Launch a Blowup attack] The attacker crafts malicious messages that contain multiple configuration parameters in the same dataset.
1 technique
- Send the malicious crafted message containing the multiple configuration parameters to the target URL, causing a denial of service.
Prerequisites
The server accepts input in the form of serialized data and is using a parser with a runtime longer than O(n) for the insertion of a new configuration parameter in the data container.(examples are .NET framework 1.0 and 1.1)
Mitigations
This attack may be mitigated completely by using a parser that is not using a vulnerable container.
Mitigation may limit the number of configuration parameters per dataset.
Weaknesses it exploits
- CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Recent CVEs with these weaknesses
- –CVE-2026-86531
The embedded OpenEJB HTTP server does not limit the size of incoming request bodies or of multipart requests, and does not remove the temporary files it creates for multipart parts. A remote unauthenticated attacker can cause excessive mem…
- 7.0CVE-2026-114359
Eclipse Kura downloads deployment packages (DPs) from a remote URL without any limit on the size of the data it receives. A malicious or compromised HTTP(S) server, or an attacker able to tamper with a plain-HTTP download, can stream an ar…
- 8.7CVE-2026-60040
An unauthenticated remote attacker can perform a DoS in the backends backup creation function. This can result in a total loss of availability.
- 8.7CVE-2026-123817
AIOHTTP is an asynchronous HTTP client/server framework for asyncio and Python. Prior to 3.14.4, the WebSocket reader retains one bytes object for each transport read while reassembling an incomplete frame. A malicious peer can split a fra…
- 6.8CVE-2026-125205
FFmpeg through 9.0.2 contains an unbounded memory allocation vulnerability in the av1_frame_merge bitstream filter that allows attackers to exhaust memory by never sending a temporal delimiter OBU. Attackers can supply a crafted .obu file …
- 5.7CVE-2026-125186
FFmpeg through 9.0.2 contains an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in the dts2pts bitstream filter that allows attackers to exhaust CPU through unbounded per-packet POC node allocation. Attackers can supply a crafted H.264 pa…
- 6.8CVE-2026-125180
FFmpeg 8.1 through 9.0.2 contains a memory exhaustion vulnerability in the libavcodec/exif.c parser that allows attackers to amplify allocations by pointing many IFD entries at overlapping payloads. Attackers can embed a small crafted EXIF…
- 7.5CVE-2026-112322
clean_client() in lib/rpc/svc_auth_gssapi.c in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) restarts its scan from the head of the client list after each removal, resulting in quadratic CPU cost. Remote attackers can cause a denial of service (CPU consumptio…
The newest records naming one of them. Each weakness's page lists them all.
Related attack patterns
- Part of
- CAPEC-231 Oversized Serialized Data Payloads
Examples
In this example, assume that the victim is running a vulnerable parser such as .NET framework 1.0. This resul…
In this example, assume that the victim is running a vulnerable parser such as .NET framework 1.0. This results in a quadratic runtime of O(n^2).
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<foo
aaa=""
ZZZ=""
...
999=""
/>A document with n attributes results in (n^2)/2 operations to be performed. If an operation takes 100 nanoseconds then a document with 100,000 operations would take 500s to process. In this fashion a small message of less than 1MB causes a denial of service condition on the CPU resources.
A YAML bomb leverages references within a YAML file to create exponential growth in memory requirements. By c…
A YAML bomb leverages references within a YAML file to create exponential growth in memory requirements. By creating a chain of keys whose values are a list of multiple references to the next key in the chain, the amount of memory and processing required to handle the data grows exponentially. This may lead to denial of service or instability resulting from excessive resource consumption.
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