CVE-2024-4029 identifies a resource allocation vulnerability in the Wildfly application server’s management interface. Specifically, the management interface does not impose any limits or throttling on the number of socket connections it accepts. This absence of control allows an attacker with sufficient privileges to open an excessive number of sockets, thereby exhausting the system’s file descriptor limit (nofile). When the nofile limit is reached, the system cannot open new sockets or files, effectively causing a denial of service (DoS) by preventing legitimate management operations. The vulnerability requires local access with high privileges, as indicated by the CVSS vector (AV:L/PR:H), and does not require user interaction. The impact is limited to availability, with no confidentiality or integrity compromise. The CVSS score of 4.1 reflects a medium severity due to the local access requirement and the high complexity of exploitation. No public exploits or patches have been reported yet, but the vulnerability is published and should be addressed proactively. Wildfly is widely used in enterprise Java environments, often in critical infrastructure and business applications, making this vulnerability relevant for organizations relying on it for management and orchestration tasks.

For European organizations, the primary impact is a denial of service condition on Wildfly management interfaces, potentially disrupting administrative access and automated management workflows. This can delay incident response, patch deployment, and configuration changes, increasing operational risk. Organizations running Wildfly on critical infrastructure or in production environments may experience downtime or degraded service availability. The requirement for local high-privilege access limits the attack surface but insider threats or compromised accounts could exploit this vulnerability. The lack of confidentiality or integrity impact reduces the risk of data breaches but availability disruptions can still have significant business consequences, especially in sectors like finance, telecommunications, and government services where Wildfly is commonly deployed.

To mitigate CVE-2024-4029, organizations should implement strict access controls to limit who can connect to the Wildfly management interface, ideally restricting it to trusted administrators and secure networks. Employ OS-level resource limits (ulimit) to cap the number of open file descriptors per user or process, preventing exhaustion. Monitoring socket usage and system resource consumption can provide early warning signs of exploitation attempts. Consider deploying network-level controls such as firewall rules or network segmentation to isolate management interfaces. Regularly update Wildfly to the latest versions once patches become available. Additionally, implement robust logging and alerting on management interface access to detect anomalous connection patterns. Where possible, use multi-factor authentication and audit privileged user activities to reduce insider threat risks.