Security Resilience

CVE-2023-38285

DoS in Owasp Modsecurity 3.0.0 – 3.0.10

Published
26 July 2023
Modified
03 July 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0090 59th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-38285 is a high-severity Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity (CWE-407) vulnerability in Owasp Modsecurity. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 41% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Trustwave ModSecurity 3.x before 3.0.10 has Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-28882Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2026-42268Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2026-52761Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2024-1019Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2026-52747Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2025-48866Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2026-30923Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2025-54571Same product: Owasp Modsecurity
CVE-2023-38199Same vendor: Owasp
CVE-2025-66021Same vendor: Owasp

Affected Assets

owasp
modsecurity
3.0.0 — 3.0.10

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-407

Addresses inefficient algorithms whose complexity can be exploited for DoS.

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.

degrades

Redundancy of processing facilities can absorb resource exhaustion from inefficient algorithms.

finds

Monitoring activities can identify anomalous resource consumption indicative of algorithmic complexity attacks.

blocks

Secure development life cycle includes design reviews that can catch inefficient algorithms before deployment.

blocks

Secure system architecture principles encourage selection of algorithms with acceptable worst-case complexity.

prevents

Secure coding practices can include guidelines to avoid or mitigate inefficient algorithms.

finds

Security testing can uncover performance issues stemming from algorithmic complexity.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-407, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References