CVE-2026-23842
Published: 19 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-23842 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Chatterbot Chatterbot. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 12.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as Machine Learning Libraries; in the Other ATLAS/OWASP Terms risk domain.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-23842 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in ChatterBot, a machine learning conversational dialog engine used for creating chat bots. Versions up to 1.2.10 are affected due to improper database session and connection pool management. Specifically, concurrent invocations of the get_response() method exhaust the underlying SQLAlchemy connection pool, causing persistent service unavailability that requires a manual restart to recover. The issue is classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
The vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network by unauthenticated attackers with low complexity and no user interaction required. By sending multiple concurrent requests to the get_response() method, attackers can fully deplete the connection pool, resulting in high-impact availability disruption without affecting confidentiality or integrity.
ChatterBot version 1.2.11 resolves the issue through fixes detailed in the associated GitHub commit (de89fe648139f8eeacc998ad4524fab291a378cf), pull request 2432, and release notes. The GitHub security advisory (GHSA-v4w8-49pv-mf72) provides further details on the vulnerability and mitigation. Security practitioners should upgrade to version 1.2.11 immediately to prevent exploitation.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-3299
Vulnerability details
ChatterBot is a machine learning, conversational dialog engine for creating chat bots. ChatterBot versions up to 1.2.10 are vulnerable to a denial-of-service condition caused by improper database session and connection pool management. Concurrent invocations of the get_response() method can exhaust…
more
the underlying SQLAlchemy connection pool, resulting in persistent service unavailability and requiring a manual restart to recover. Version 1.2.11 fixes the issue.
- CWE(s)
AI Security AnalysisAI
- AI Category
- Machine Learning Libraries
- Risk Domain
- Other ATLAS/OWASP Terms
- OWASP Top 10 for LLMs 2025
- None mapped
- Classification Reason
- Matched keywords: machine learning
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
CVE enables remote resource exhaustion DoS via application exploitation (CWE-400), directly matching T1499.004.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SI-2 requires timely flaw remediation, directly addressing this CVE by upgrading ChatterBot to version 1.2.11 which fixes the improper database session and connection pool management.
SC-5 Denial-of-service Protection directly prevents resource exhaustion attacks like concurrent get_response() invocations depleting the SQLAlchemy connection pool.
SC-6 Resource Availability enforces limits on resources such as database connection pools to prevent unauthorized depletion from concurrent requests.