Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Without limits on resource allocation, an attacker can consume all available resources, causing denial of service for legitimate users.
How to fix this vulnerability
Prevention strategies for Allocation Without Limits based on 3 Shoulder detection rules.
Set size limits on body parser middleware to prevent memory exhaustion
- app.use(express.json()); - app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true })); + app.use(express.json({ limit: '100kb' })); + app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true, limit: '100kb' }));
Add 'take' limits to all relation includes to prevent unbounded data loading and resource exhaustion
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'; const prisma = new PrismaClient(); app.get('/api/users/:id', async (req, res) => { const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({ where: { id: req.params.id }, include: { - posts: true, // Could be thousands of posts - comments: true, // Could be tens of thousands + posts: { + take: 20, + orderBy: { createdAt: 'desc' }, + select: { id: true, title: true, createdAt: true }, + }, + comments: { + take: 50, + orderBy: { createdAt: 'desc' }, + }, } }); res.json(user); });
Add rate limiting to authentication and expensive API endpoints
from flask import Flask, request, jsonify - - @app.route('/api/login', methods=['POST']) + from flask_limiter import Limiter + from flask_limiter.util import get_remote_address + + limiter = Limiter(app=app, key_func=get_remote_address) + + @app.route('/api/login', methods=['POST']) + @limiter.limit("5 per minute") def login(): user = authenticate(request.json) return jsonify({'token': generate_token(user)})
Key Practices
- limited
Find vulnerabilities in your code
Use Shoulder to scan your codebase for Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling patterns. 3 rules.
# Scan with Shoulder CLI npx @shoulderdev/cli trust --cwe=770 # Or scan entire project npx @shoulderdev/cli trust .
Detection Rules (3)
What to watch for in code reviews
These patterns indicate potential Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerabilities. Look for these during code reviews and security audits.
Scan your codebase for Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Shoulder CLI finds vulnerable patterns across your entire codebase.