Unbounded resource allocation or request amplification
An operation consumes an unconstrained protected resource through input size, fan-out, queued work, output size or retries.
Candidate CWE: CWE-770
Test hypothesis#
In a faithful isolated deployment, lower a supported real limit to a tiny value and compare an accepted fixture, an at-limit case and a minimally over-limit case. Stub billed providers and count downstream jobs or operations. If no guard exists, trace the missing bound in source and a small instrumented fixture; do not attempt a live outage.
Evidence required#
Preserve the intended limit, actual configuration, actor/tenant budget key, exact input, accepted and rejected controls, committed work and cleanup. Select CWE-770 only when the cause is resource allocation without appropriate limits or throttling; distinguish an excessive-allocation request from a resource leak or unrelated slow dependency.
Rule out false positives#
A missing rate-limit header, a slow response or a few accepted requests below an unknown threshold does not prove unlimited consumption. Local amplification is not a measured production outage or bill.
Playbook and command references#
- Resource budgets and sensitive business flows — Trace request fan-out, retries, recipient limits and tenant quotas using tiny local limits, recording stubs and measured downstream effects.
- REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and SSE permission parity — Carry the same permission invariant across protocols, nested fields, streams, and alternate API versions.
Find the associated command snippets
Referenced by these target playbooks#
Report checklist#
- Capture the affected version, configuration, identities, and object ownership.
- Preserve a valid baseline and a negative control.
- Reproduce the forbidden data access, action, or state change on controlled fixtures.
- Explain the intended security rule and why the observed behavior violates it.
- State prerequisites, uncertainty, cleanup, and the smallest demonstrated impact.
Conditional ATT&CK mapping#
No direct ATT&CK mapping selected. Record the weakness and demonstrated impact without forcing an adversary-behavior classification. See the mapping guide.