CVE-2024-22871 is a denial of service vulnerability identified in the Clojure programming language, specifically impacting versions from 1.20 through 1.12.0-alpha5. The vulnerability resides in the clojure.core$partial$fn__5920 function, which is part of the core partial function implementation in Clojure. An attacker can exploit this flaw remotely without any authentication or user interaction to cause a denial of service, effectively disrupting the availability of applications or services relying on the affected Clojure versions. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-502, which relates to deserialization of untrusted data, suggesting that the flaw may be triggered by malicious input causing resource exhaustion or application crashes. The CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 reflects a high severity level, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), no confidentiality or integrity impact (C:N/I:N), and high impact on availability (A:H). No patches or fixes have been released at the time of publication, and no known exploits have been observed in the wild. This vulnerability poses a significant risk to any systems running vulnerable Clojure versions, especially those exposed to untrusted inputs or network access.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-22871 is the potential for denial of service attacks that can disrupt critical applications or services built using vulnerable Clojure versions. This can lead to downtime, loss of productivity, and potential financial losses, especially for businesses relying on real-time or high-availability systems. Public-facing services or APIs implemented in Clojure are particularly at risk, as attackers can exploit the vulnerability remotely without authentication. The lack of confidentiality or integrity impact means data breaches are unlikely, but service unavailability can affect customer trust and operational continuity. Organizations in sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and government, where uptime is critical, may face heightened risks. Additionally, the absence of patches increases the window of exposure, necessitating proactive risk management and mitigation strategies.

1. Monitor official Clojure repositories and security advisories closely for patches or updates addressing CVE-2024-22871 and apply them promptly once available. 2. Restrict network exposure of services running vulnerable Clojure versions by implementing firewall rules, network segmentation, and access controls to limit potential attack vectors. 3. Employ input validation and sanitization to reduce the risk of malicious data triggering the vulnerability, especially in APIs or services accepting external input. 4. Implement resource usage limits such as CPU, memory, and execution time constraints on Clojure processes to mitigate the impact of potential DoS attempts. 5. Use runtime monitoring and anomaly detection tools to identify unusual resource consumption patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Consider upgrading to later, unaffected versions of Clojure if feasible, or refactor critical components to avoid reliance on the vulnerable function. 7. Develop incident response plans that include procedures for mitigating DoS attacks and restoring service availability quickly.