CVE-2024-50311 is a denial of service vulnerability identified in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.18. The flaw resides in the GraphQL batching functionality, which allows multiple queries to be sent within a single request. Attackers can exploit this by crafting a single GraphQL request containing thousands of aliases, which are essentially query identifiers or references. This causes the OpenShift platform to allocate excessive computational and memory resources to process the request, overwhelming the system. The result is a denial of service condition where legitimate users experience application unavailability due to resource exhaustion. The vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or integrity, as it does not allow data leakage or modification. Exploitation requires network access and low privileges (PR:L), but no user interaction is necessary. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5, categorized as medium severity, reflecting its impact on availability and ease of exploitation. No patches or known exploits have been reported at the time of publication. The issue highlights the lack of limits or throttling on resource allocation when processing GraphQL batch queries in OpenShift 4.18, making it susceptible to resource exhaustion attacks.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-50311 is service disruption due to denial of service conditions in container orchestration environments running OpenShift 4.18. Organizations relying heavily on OpenShift for critical applications, including financial services, manufacturing, and public sector infrastructure, may experience downtime or degraded performance, affecting business continuity and operational efficiency. Since the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the risk is limited to availability. However, availability issues in container platforms can cascade, impacting multiple dependent services and applications. The ease of exploitation over the network and lack of required user interaction increase the likelihood of attack attempts, especially in environments exposed to untrusted networks. This could lead to increased operational costs due to incident response and potential reputational damage if service outages affect customers or citizens. The absence of known exploits provides a window for proactive mitigation before widespread exploitation occurs.

To mitigate CVE-2024-50311, organizations should implement specific controls beyond generic best practices: 1) Apply any available patches or updates from Red Hat as soon as they are released. 2) Configure GraphQL query limits by restricting the maximum number of aliases or queries allowed in a single batch request to prevent resource exhaustion. 3) Deploy rate limiting and throttling mechanisms at the API gateway or ingress controller level to limit the frequency and size of GraphQL requests. 4) Monitor resource utilization metrics closely for unusual spikes that may indicate exploitation attempts. 5) Use Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) or API security gateways capable of detecting and blocking anomalous GraphQL query patterns. 6) Restrict network access to OpenShift management interfaces to trusted internal networks or VPNs to reduce exposure. 7) Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on API abuse scenarios. These targeted mitigations will help reduce the risk of denial of service attacks exploiting this vulnerability.