CVE-2024-8018VulnerabilityPublished 20 Mar 2025Updated 15 Oct 2025

CVE-2024-8018: imartinez/privategpt · Unthrottled Resource Allocation

Affects imartinez/privategptSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 50% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 Mar 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubimartinez/privategpt`pkg:github/imartinez/privategpt`Other threats	Affected =0.5.0	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-8018, organizations should implement several specific measures beyond generic advice: 1) Enforce strict input validation on multipart form data, particularly limiting the length and complexity of multipart boundary strings to prevent excessive resource consumption. 2) Introduce rate limiting and throttling mechanisms on file upload endpoints to detect and block abnormal request patterns indicative of DoS attempts. 3) Monitor resource usage metrics (CPU, memory) of privateGPT services to identify unusual spikes that may signal exploitation attempts. 4) Deploy web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block malformed multipart requests containing excessively long boundaries. 5) If feasible, isolate privateGPT services in containerized or sandboxed environments with resource quotas to limit the impact of resource exhaustion. 6) Stay alert for official patches or updates from the vendor and apply them promptly once available. 7) Conduct regular security testing, including fuzzing multipart upload handling, to identify similar vulnerabilities proactively. 8) Educate development and operations teams about this vulnerability to ensure awareness and rapid response capabilities.

Description

A vulnerability in imartinez/privategpt version 0.5.0 allows for a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. When uploading a file, if an attacker appends a large number of characters to the end of a multipart boundary, the system will continuously process these characters, rendering privateGPT inaccessible. This uncontrolled resource consumption can lead to prolonged unavailability of the service, disrupting operations and causing potential data inaccessibility and loss of productivity.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2024-8018 can be significant, especially those integrating privateGPT into their AI workflows, customer support chatbots, or document processing pipelines. The denial of service condition can lead to prolonged downtime, disrupting business operations and causing delays in service delivery. This may result in productivity losses and potential reputational damage if customer-facing services are affected. Additionally, organizations handling sensitive or critical data may face operational risks due to data inaccessibility during service outages. The vulnerability's remote exploitability without authentication means attackers can launch DoS attacks from external networks, increasing exposure. In sectors such as finance, healthcare, and public administration, where AI tools are increasingly adopted, service unavailability can have cascading effects on compliance and operational continuity. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive defense, but the high severity score necessitates urgent attention to prevent potential exploitation.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

huntr.com/bounties/0661fa3b-bea4-4156-abed-a65d51958505 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Oct 2025, 13:22 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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