CVE-2024-7768 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) found in the h2oai/h2o-3 product, version 3.46.1 and potentially other unspecified versions. The flaw exists in the /3/ImportFiles REST API endpoint, which accepts a GET parameter named 'path'. An attacker can craft a request where the 'path' parameter recursively references itself, causing the server to enter a loop of self-invocations. This recursive calling behavior leads to exhaustion of the server's request queue, effectively causing a denial of service (DoS) by preventing the server from processing legitimate incoming requests. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without requiring authentication or user interaction, increasing its risk profile. The CVSS v3.0 score is 7.5 (high), reflecting the ease of exploitation (network vector, low attack complexity) and the impact limited to availability (no confidentiality or integrity impact). No patches or fixes have been linked yet, and no known exploits are reported in the wild. The vulnerability highlights a lack of input validation and absence of throttling or recursion limits in the endpoint's implementation, which are critical for preventing resource exhaustion attacks in web services.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-7768 is service disruption due to denial of service conditions. Organizations using h2oai/h2o-3 for AI model training, data analytics, or machine learning workflows could experience downtime or degraded performance, impacting business continuity and operational efficiency. This could be particularly damaging for sectors relying on real-time data processing or AI-driven decision-making, such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and research institutions. The lack of confidentiality or integrity impact reduces risks related to data breaches, but availability loss can still cause financial losses, reputational damage, and regulatory scrutiny under frameworks like GDPR if service disruptions affect customer-facing applications. Additionally, the vulnerability could be leveraged as part of a larger attack chain to distract or disable defenses. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the ease of exploitation means attackers could develop exploits rapidly.

1. Implement strict input validation on the /3/ImportFiles endpoint to detect and reject recursive or self-referential 'path' parameters before processing. 2. Introduce recursion depth limits or maximum call stack thresholds within the server logic to prevent infinite loops. 3. Apply rate limiting and request throttling at the API gateway or web server level to limit the number of requests from a single source or to the vulnerable endpoint. 4. Monitor server request queues and implement alerting for abnormal queue lengths or request patterns indicative of recursive calls. 5. Deploy network-level protections such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) configured to detect and block suspicious recursive URL patterns. 6. Stay updated with vendor advisories and apply patches or updates as soon as they become available. 7. Conduct regular security testing and fuzzing on API endpoints to identify similar resource exhaustion vulnerabilities proactively. 8. Consider isolating critical AI workloads in segmented environments to limit the blast radius of potential DoS attacks.