CVE-2023-36038 is a vulnerability identified in Microsoft ASP.NET Core 8.0, categorized under CWE-400, which pertains to uncontrolled resource consumption leading to denial of service (DoS). The vulnerability allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to send specially crafted requests that cause the ASP.NET Core server to consume excessive resources such as CPU or memory. This resource exhaustion can degrade or completely disrupt the availability of web applications hosted on the affected framework. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 8.2, reflecting a high severity due to the network attack vector, lack of required privileges or user interaction, and the significant impact on availability. The vulnerability does not affect confidentiality but can impact integrity indirectly by causing service interruptions. No patches were listed at the time of publication, and no known exploits have been observed in the wild, but the potential for exploitation remains high given the ease of attack and the widespread use of ASP.NET Core 8.0 in modern web applications. The vulnerability was reserved in June 2023 and published in November 2023, indicating recent discovery and disclosure. Organizations using ASP.NET Core 8.0 should prioritize mitigation to prevent potential DoS attacks that could disrupt critical services.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-36038 is the risk of denial of service attacks that can lead to downtime or degraded performance of web applications built on ASP.NET Core 8.0. This can affect business continuity, customer trust, and operational efficiency, especially for sectors relying heavily on web services such as finance, e-commerce, healthcare, and government. The vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality but can indirectly impact integrity and availability by causing service interruptions. Given the network-based attack vector and no need for authentication, attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely, increasing the risk of widespread disruption. Organizations with high traffic web applications or critical online services are particularly vulnerable. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation before active exploitation occurs. Failure to address this vulnerability could lead to increased exposure to DoS attacks, impacting service level agreements and regulatory compliance related to uptime and availability.

1. Monitor official Microsoft channels for patches or updates addressing CVE-2023-36038 and apply them promptly once released. 2. Implement resource usage limits and quotas at the application and server levels to prevent excessive consumption from malformed or malicious requests. 3. Use Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) to detect and block abnormal traffic patterns indicative of resource exhaustion attacks. 4. Employ rate limiting and throttling mechanisms to restrict the number of requests from individual IP addresses or clients. 5. Conduct regular stress testing and vulnerability assessments to identify potential resource bottlenecks. 6. Ensure robust logging and monitoring to detect early signs of DoS attempts, enabling rapid response. 7. Consider deploying ASP.NET Core applications behind reverse proxies or load balancers that can absorb or mitigate attack traffic. 8. Educate development and operations teams about secure coding and resource management best practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future releases.