CVE-2023-25151
DoS vulnerability for high cardinality metrics in opentelemetry-go-contrib
opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used 7.5
DoS vulnerability for high cardinality metrics in opentelemetry-go-contrib
opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
- Record
CVE-2023-25151- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-0632 7.5
opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
- Record
EUVD-2023-0632- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh 7.5
otelhttp and otelbeego have DoS vulnerability for high cardinality metrics
Impact
The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments.
The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)^1. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack.
Pseudo-attack:
for infinite loop {
r := generate_random_string()
do_http_request("/some/path?random="+r)
}
Patches
go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp- v0.39.0go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego- v0.39.0
- Record
GHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD 7.5
opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
- Record
CVE-2023-25151- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV 7.5
DoS vulnerability for high cardinality metrics in opentelemetry-go-contrib
opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
- Record
CVE-2023-25151- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh 7.5
otelhttp and otelbeego have DoS vulnerability for high cardinality metrics
Impact
The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments.
The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)^1. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack.
Pseudo-attack:
for infinite loop {
r := generate_random_string()
do_http_request("/some/path?random="+r)
}
Patches
go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp- v0.39.0go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeego- v0.39.0
- Record
GHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-25151 7.5
opentelemetry-go-contrib is a collection of extensions for OpenTelemetry-Go. The v0.38.0 release of go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string)[^1]. The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when cumulative temporality is used, this means the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack. This issue has been addressed in version 0.39.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-25151- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1546No score
Denial of service in go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp
The otelhttp package of opentelemetry-go-contrib is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack.
The otelhttp package uses the httpconv.ServerRequest function to annotate metric measurements for the http.server.request_content_length, http.server.response_content_length, and http.server.duration instruments. The ServerRequest function sets the http.target attribute value to be the whole request URI (including the query string). The metric instruments do not "forget" previous measurement attributes when "cumulative" temporality is used, meaning that the cardinality of the measurements allocated is directly correlated with the unique URIs handled. If the query string is constantly random, this will result in a constant increase in memory allocation that can be used in a denial-of-service attack.
- Record
GO-2023-1546- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttpGo | 0.38.0 up to 0.39.0 | 0.39.0 |
go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/github.com/astaxie/beego/otelbeegoGo | 0.38.0 up to 0.39.0 | 0.39.0 |
golang-opentelemetry-contribUbuntu:25.10 | All versions, plus listed versions 0.56.0-5 | None known |
golang-opentelemetry-contribUbuntu:26.10 | All versions, plus listed versions 0.56.0-51.43.0-1 | None known |
golang-opentelemetry-contribUbuntu:26.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 0.56.0-5 | None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-25151 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Open-telemetry Opentelemetry-go-contrib, published February 8, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.97%, the 62nd percentile. Fixed in go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp 0.39.0.
References
github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go-contrib/security/advisories/GHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh
github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/blob/v1.12.0/semconv/internal/v2/http.go
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-25151
github.com/advisories/GHSA-5r5m-65gx-7vrh
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/25xxx/CVE-2023-25151.json
github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go-contrib
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-25151
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-25151