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 connection limits can lead to resource exhaustion, particularly hitting the operating system's 'nofile' limit, which restricts the number of open file descriptors (including sockets) per process or user. An attacker with high privileges and local access to the system can exploit this by opening numerous socket connections to the management interface, thereby exhausting available file descriptors and causing a denial of service (DoS). The vulnerability does not require user interaction but does require authenticated access with high privileges, limiting the attack surface to insiders or compromised accounts. The impact is primarily on availability, as the server may become unresponsive or fail to accept new connections once the limit is reached. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The CVSS v3.1 score is 4.1 (medium), reflecting the local attack vector, high complexity, and required privileges. No known exploits are currently in the wild, and no official patches have been linked yet. Organizations using Wildfly, especially in critical environments, should be aware of this vulnerability and prepare mitigation strategies.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-4029 is the potential for denial of service on systems running Wildfly, particularly those exposing the management interface locally. This can disrupt business-critical applications and services relying on Wildfly, leading to operational downtime and potential financial losses. Since the vulnerability requires high privilege local access, the risk is elevated in environments where insider threats or compromised administrative accounts exist. The lack of throttling could also be exploited in multi-tenant or shared environments, affecting service availability for multiple users. In sectors such as finance, government, and telecommunications—where Wildfly is commonly used—service interruptions could have cascading effects on dependent systems and services. Additionally, the inability to configure connection limits reduces the flexibility of administrators to harden their systems against resource exhaustion attacks. While confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected, the availability impact alone can be significant, especially in environments with strict uptime requirements.

To mitigate CVE-2024-4029, organizations should first restrict access to the Wildfly management interface to trusted administrators only, ideally via secure network segmentation and firewall rules limiting local access. Implement strict authentication and authorization controls to prevent unauthorized high-privilege access. Monitor socket and file descriptor usage on servers running Wildfly to detect abnormal connection patterns early. Employ external rate limiting or connection throttling mechanisms at the network or OS level, such as iptables rules or systemd socket limits, to prevent resource exhaustion. Consider deploying host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to alert on unusual socket activity. Until an official patch is released, avoid exposing the management interface unnecessarily and review administrative workflows to minimize the risk of insider exploitation. Regularly update Wildfly and related components once patches become available. Finally, conduct periodic security audits and penetration tests focusing on resource exhaustion scenarios to validate defenses.