CVE-2024-31217 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-248 vulnerability in @strapi/plugin-upload. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for @strapi/plugin-upload — see the affected versions and patch details below.
@strapi/plugin-upload has a Denial-of-Service via Improper Exception Handling
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-31217.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
@strapi/plugin-uploadnpmDescription
Summary
A Denial-of-Service was found in the media upload process causing the server to crash without restarting, affecting either development and production environments.
Details
Usually, errors in the application cause it to log the error and keep it running for other clients. This behavior, in contrast, stops the server execution, making it unavailable for any clients until it's manually restarted.
PoC
Due to a bug in what we believe to be Burp’s decoding system, we couldn’t produce a valid file to easily reproduce the vulnerability. Instead, the issue can be reproduced by following these steps:
- Configure Burp’s proxy between a browser and a Strapi server
- Log in and upload an image through the Media Library page while having Burp’s interceptor turned on
- After capturing the upload POST request in Burp, add
%00at the end of the file extension from theContent-Disposition, in the filename parameter (See reference image 1 below) - Using the cursor, select the added
%00and right-click it. Click in Convert selection > URL > URL decode to transform the selected text into a null byte - Forward the modified request. The server should print an error and crash with the error
ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE(See reference log 1 below)
By following the data flow, we reached the line of code where we believe the DoS is being caused. The simpler way of fixing this vulnerability seems to be avoiding the error thrown by whitelisting the characters used in the extension.
Reference Image 1
Reference Log 1
[2024-03-22 10:23:42.629] http: POST /upload (22 ms) 400
node:internal/fs/utils:379
const err = new ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE(
^
TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE]: The argument 'path' must be a string, Uint8Array, or URL without null bytes. Received '/mnt/storage/Development/GHSA-pm9q-xj9p-96pm/public/uploads/replaceme_png_88efe6a165.png\x00'
at new WriteStream (node:internal/fs/streams:340:5)
at Object.createWriteStream (node:fs:3123:10)
at /mnt/storage/Development/GHSA-pm9q-xj9p-96pm/node_modules/@strapi/provider-upload-local/dist/index.js:71:33
at new Promise (<anonymous>)
at Object.uploadStream (/mnt/storage/Development/GHSA-pm9q-xj9p-96pm/node_modules/@strapi/provider-upload-local/dist/index.js:68:16)
at Object.uploadStream (/mnt/storage/Development/GHSA-pm9q-xj9p-96pm/node_modules/@strapi/plugin-upload/server/register.js:80:35)
at Object.upload (/mnt/storage/Development/GHSA-pm9q-xj9p-96pm/node_modules/@strapi/plugin-upload/server/services/provider.js:16:46)
at Object.uploadImage (/mnt/storage/Development/GHSA-pm9q-xj9p-96pm/node_modules/@strapi/plugin-upload/server/services/upload.js:220:48) {
code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE'
}
Impact
Denial-of-Service occurs when a service becomes unavailable for users or other services. By sending a specially-crafted request, the server crashes without restarting. The entire server crashes with the thrown error instead of crashing only the single request and returning error 500 to the user. Any user with access to the file upload functionality is able to exploit this vulnerability, affecting applications running in both development mode and production mode as well.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @strapi/plugin-upload | all versions | 4.22.0npm install @strapi/plugin-upload@4.22.0 |
Affected Products
strapistrapiResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @strapi/plugin-upload, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @strapi/plugin-upload to 4.22.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-31217 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-31217 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.