Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-50269

DoS in Squid-Cache Squid 3.1 – 5.9

High EPSSDoS
Published
14 December 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
CVSS Score v3.1 8.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.58 99th percentile
Risk Priority 84 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-50269 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) vulnerability in Squid-Cache Squid. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked in the top 1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Squid is a caching proxy for the Web. Due to an Uncontrolled Recursion bug in versions 2.6 through 2.7.STABLE9, versions 3.1 through 5.9, and versions 6.0.1 through 6.5, Squid may be vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack against HTTP…

more

Request parsing. This problem allows a remote client to perform Denial of Service attack by sending a large X-Forwarded-For header when the follow_x_forwarded_for feature is configured. This bug is fixed by Squid version 6.6. In addition, patches addressing this problem for the stable releases can be found in Squid's patch archives.

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-2023-46728Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2023-49286Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2026-50012Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2026-32748Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2025-62168Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2025-59362Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2025-54574Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2023-49285Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2026-33526Same product: Squid-Cache Squid
CVE-2024-45802Same product: Squid-Cache Squid

Affected Assets

squid-cache
squid
2.6, 2.7 · 3.1 — 5.9 · 6.0.1 — 6.5

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