// For flags

CVE-2025-48866

ModSecurity has possible DoS vulnerability in sanitiseArg action

Severity Score

7.5
*CVSS v3.1

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

0
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

Attend
*SSVC
Descriptions

ModSecurity is an open source, cross platform web application firewall (WAF) engine for Apache, IIS and Nginx. Versions prior to 2.9.10 contain a denial of service vulnerability similar to GHSA-859r-vvv8-rm8r/CVE-2025-47947. The `sanitiseArg` (and `sanitizeArg` - this is the same action but an alias) is vulnerable to adding an excessive number of arguments, thereby leading to denial of service. Version 2.9.10 fixes the issue. As a workaround, avoid using rules that contain the `sanitiseArg` (or `sanitizeArg`) action.

A denial of service flaw was found in ModSecurity. This vulnerability is present in the `sanitiseArg`/`sanitizeArg` function can be overloaded with a large number of arguments which will lead to excessive memory usage when processing json values. This may lead to a denial of service in the affected web server should memory limits be exceeded.

Simon Studer discovered that ModSecurity incorrectly handled certain JSON objects. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. It was discovered that ModSecurity incorrectly handled requests when parsing certain form data. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:Attend
Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
Yes
Tech. Impact
Partial
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2025-05-27 CVE Reserved
  • 2025-06-02 CVE Published
  • 2025-06-09 CVE Updated
  • 2025-08-09 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
  • CWE-1050: Excessive Platform Resource Consumption within a Loop
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Owasp-modsecurity
Search vendor "Owasp-modsecurity"
 ModSecurity
Search vendor "Owasp-modsecurity" for product "ModSecurity"
 < 2.9.10
Search vendor "Owasp-modsecurity" for product "ModSecurity" and version " < 2.9.10"
en
Affected