CVE-2024-22279: Cloudfoundry Cf-deployment DOS Vulnerability

CVE-2024-22279 Overview

CVE-2024-22279 affects the Cloud Foundry Routing Release component, specifically gorouter, which handles HTTP request routing for Cloud Foundry deployments. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of inbound requests in Routing Release versions greater than v0.273.0 and less than or equal to v0.297.0. An unauthenticated remote attacker can degrade service availability by sending crafted requests at scale, producing a denial-of-service condition against the Cloud Foundry platform. The flaw is categorized under CWE-444, Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests, commonly associated with HTTP request smuggling and parser inconsistencies.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can degrade availability of Cloud Foundry deployments by issuing malformed requests at scale against the gorouter component.

Affected Products

Cloud Foundry Routing Release versions greater than v0.273.0 and up to v0.297.0
Cloud Foundry cf-deployment bundles incorporating affected Routing Release versions
Any Cloud Foundry environment exposing gorouter to untrusted network traffic

Discovery Timeline

2024-06-10 - CVE-2024-22279 published to NVD
2024-11-21 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-22279

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in gorouter, the Go-based HTTP router that fronts Cloud Foundry applications. The router parses and forwards incoming HTTP requests to backend application instances. When the router receives requests crafted to exploit inconsistent HTTP interpretation, it consumes disproportionate resources or fails to release them. Performed at scale, this behavior exhausts router capacity and prevents legitimate requests from being serviced.

The attack requires no authentication, no user interaction, and originates over the network. The impact is limited to availability; confidentiality and integrity are not affected. Because gorouter is the entry point for every routed application in a Cloud Foundry foundation, degradation cascades to every hosted workload behind the router tier.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper handling of HTTP requests, classified under CWE-444. Inconsistent interpretation between request parsers allows malformed or ambiguous requests to consume routing resources beyond what well-formed traffic would require. Cloud Foundry's advisory identifies the issue as a denial-of-service condition in gorouter and resolves it by tightening request handling in releases after v0.297.0.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and unauthenticated. An attacker sends a high volume of specially formed HTTP requests to the public-facing gorouter endpoint. Each request triggers the inefficient handling path, and the cumulative effect saturates router goroutines, memory, or connection slots. The result is degraded throughput or full unavailability of all applications routed through the affected gorouter instances. See the Cloud Foundry advisory for additional technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-22279

Indicators of Compromise

Sudden spikes in gorouter request latency, 5xx error rates, or dropped connections without a corresponding increase in legitimate traffic.
Elevated goroutine counts, memory consumption, or file descriptor usage on gorouter VMs.
High volumes of malformed HTTP requests from a small set of source IP addresses or autonomous systems.
Backend application health checks reporting healthy while user-facing availability degrades.

Detection Strategies

Baseline gorouter request rates, latency, and error metrics, then alert on statistical deviations.
Inspect gorouter access logs for repeated requests with unusual header combinations, oversized headers, or non-standard transfer encodings.
Correlate router-tier metrics with upstream load balancer logs to identify abusive source IPs.
Monitor for sustained connection counts that exceed historical p95 values on the router VMs.

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward gorouter access and error logs to a centralized analytics platform for longitudinal analysis.
Track BOSH VM resource metrics (CPU, memory, goroutine count) for the routing instance group.
Alert on rate-of-change anomalies in HTTP 502, 503, and 504 responses returned by gorouter.
Capture upstream WAF or CDN telemetry to identify request patterns that match the abuse profile before they reach the router tier.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-22279

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Cloud Foundry Routing Release to a version later than v0.297.0 that contains the fix.
Update cf-deployment manifests to reference the patched Routing Release and redeploy.
Place a rate-limiting WAF or reverse proxy in front of gorouter to constrain request floods.
Review historical router logs for prior abuse patterns matching the vulnerability profile.

Patch Information

Cloud Foundry resolved the issue in Routing Release versions after v0.297.0. Operators should consult the Cloud Foundry advisory for CVE-2024-22279 and upgrade the routing instance group through the standard BOSH deployment workflow. Confirm the deployed version with bosh releases after rollout.

Workarounds

Deploy an upstream WAF or API gateway to enforce request size, header, and rate limits before traffic reaches gorouter.
Restrict exposure of the gorouter tier to trusted networks where operationally feasible.
Scale out the routing instance group to absorb short-term load while patching is scheduled.
Enable connection and request-rate ceilings on load balancers fronting the Cloud Foundry foundation.

bash

# Verify deployed Routing Release version after upgrade
bosh -d cf releases | grep routing

# Redeploy cf-deployment with a patched Routing Release
bosh -d cf deploy cf-deployment.yml \
  -o operations/use-compiled-releases.yml \
  -v routing_release_version=<patched-version>