Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-31794

DoS in Artifex Mupdf 1.21.1

Published
31 October 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0023 14th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-31794 is a medium-severity Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) vulnerability in Artifex Mupdf. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 14th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

MuPDF v1.21.1 was discovered to contain an infinite recursion in the component pdf_mark_list_push. This vulnerability allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted PDF file.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-71382Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2025-46206Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2023-51104Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2023-51105Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2023-51107Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2023-51103Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2023-51106Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2024-24258Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2024-24259Same product: Artifex Mupdf
CVE-2025-55780Same product: Artifex Mupdf

Affected Assets

artifex
mupdf
1.21.1

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-674

Supports resumption at alternate site when uncontrolled recursion causes primary site failure or crash.

addresses: CWE-674

Prevents uncontrolled recursion that exhausts stack or CPU resources.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent coding errors such as missing recursion limits or termination conditions.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring of compute resources can detect excessive consumption caused by uncontrolled recursion.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover and record uncontrolled recursion flaws before deployment.

PR.IR-04 partial match
prevents

Capacity monitoring and resource provisioning can absorb or limit the impact of runaway recursion.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development can detect excessive recursion via static analysis or fuzzing.

prevents

Secure development life cycle requires controls that prevent uncontrolled recursion through design and code review.

prevents

Application security requirements can mandate recursion limits or stack-depth checks.

prevents

Secure system architecture principles include resource-management and input-validation rules that limit recursion.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prohibit or constrain recursive constructs that could exhaust stack or memory.

finds

Capacity management includes monitoring and limits that mitigate resource exhaustion from runaway recursion.

References