CWE-410: Insufficient Resource Pool

What is Insufficient Resource Pool?

• Overview: This vulnerability occurs when a system's resource pool, such as connections, threads, or memory, is too small to handle peak demand, allowing malicious actors to monopolize resources with excessive requests, denying legitimate users access.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers exploit this vulnerability by overwhelming the resource pool with a high volume of requests.
• Common attack patterns include Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks that flood the system with traffic to exhaust resources.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences include denial of service for legitimate users as resources become unavailable.
• Potential cascading effects involve system slowdown or crash, affecting dependent services.
• Business impact may involve financial loss, damage to reputation, and loss of customer trust.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Implement resource limits and quotas to manage and restrict excessive usage.
• Adopt security best practices such as load balancing, rate limiting, and prioritizing requests.
• Use recommended tools and frameworks that offer built-in resource management features, such as circuit breakers and connection pooling libraries.

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Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified

Affected Languages: Not Language-Specific

Affected Technologies: Not specified

Vulnerable Code Example

Python Example

import time
from queue import Queue

class ResourcePool:
    def __init__(self):
        self.pool = Queue(maxsize=5)  # Vulnerable: Resource pool is too small for expected demand
        for _ in range(5):
            self.pool.put(object())

    def acquire_resource(self):
        return self.pool.get()  # Vulnerable: No handling for when pool is exhausted

    def release_resource(self, resource):
        self.pool.put(resource)

# Simulating high demand for resources
pool = ResourcePool()
for _ in range(10):  # Vulnerable: More requests than the pool can handle
    resource = pool.acquire_resource()
    time.sleep(0.1)
    pool.release_resource(resource)

Explanation

• The resource pool is initialized with a maximum size of 5, which is insufficient for high demand scenarios. If more than 5 requests occur simultaneously, the pool will be exhausted, potentially leading to a denial of service for legitimate users.
• The acquire_resource method does not handle cases where resources are unavailable, leading to blocking behavior or exceptions.

How to fix Insufficient Resource Pool?

To address the insufficient resource pool vulnerability, consider the following strategies:

1. Increase Pool Size: Ensure the resource pool size is large enough to handle peak usage scenarios.
2. Dynamic Resource Allocation: Implement dynamic resource allocation strategies where the pool can expand during peak times and contract during idle times.
3. Rate Limiting: Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse from any single client.
4. Resource Queueing: Introduce a waiting queue or retry mechanism for resource requests when the pool is exhausted.
5. Monitoring and Alerts: Set up monitoring and alerting to detect potential resource exhaustion conditions.

Fixed Code Example

import time
from queue import Queue, Empty

class ResourcePool:
    def __init__(self):
        self.pool = Queue(maxsize=10)  # Fixed: Increased pool size to handle more requests
        for _ in range(10):
            self.pool.put(object())

    def acquire_resource(self):
        # Fixed: Added a retry mechanism to handle peak demand
        try:
            resource = self.pool.get(timeout=1)  # Wait for 1 second to acquire resource
        except Empty:
            # Log the exception and implement a retry strategy if needed
            print("Failed to acquire resource: Pool exhausted")
            return None
        return resource

    def release_resource(self, resource):
        self.pool.put(resource)

# Simulating high demand for resources with retry mechanism
pool = ResourcePool()
for _ in range(15):  # Fixed: Increased pool and added retry strategy to handle demand
    resource = pool.acquire_resource()
    if resource:
        time.sleep(0.1)
        pool.release_resource(resource)

Explanation

• The fixed example increases the resource pool size to 10, allowing the system to handle more simultaneous requests.
• A retry mechanism is introduced with a timeout when acquiring resources, providing a non-blocking way to handle resource exhaustion and allowing for graceful degradation.
• The code logs any failures to acquire resources, which can be monitored to trigger alerts, enhancing system robustness against resource exhaustion attacks.