OWASP / OWASP/OpenCRE

Unbounded API responses on /rest/v1/root_cres and /rest/v1/all_cres

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Dominant language
Python
Stars
180
Forks
137
Avg merge
3d 23h
Merged PRs (30d)
21

Description

Issue

What is the issue?

Two REST endpoints can return unbounded result sets, causing high memory usage and potential timeouts in production.

/rest/v1/root_cres has no pagination at all. It calls get_root_cres() which runs a full table scan with no limit and returns every root CRE in a single response. There is no way for clients to page through results.

/rest/v1/all_cres already has pagination but accepts any positive integer for per_page. Passing ?per_page=999999 fetches the entire dataset in one request, defeating pagination entirely. There is no MAX_PER_PAGE cap anywhere in the codebase.

Expected Behaviour

/rest/v1/root_cres should support page and per_page query parameters and return pagination metadata (page, total_pages) alongside data, consistent with how /rest/v1/all_cres already works.

/rest/v1/all_cres should enforce an upper bound on per_page so that a single request cannot retrieve the entire dataset regardless of what value is passed.

Actual Behaviour

/rest/v1/root_cres returns all root CREs in a single unbounded response with no pagination support.

/rest/v1/all_cres accepts ?per_page=999999 and returns the entire dataset in one response.

Steps to reproduce
GET /rest/v1/root_cres
# returns all root CREs, no page/total_pages in response

GET /rest/v1/all_cres?per_page=999999
# returns entire dataset in one response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the handlers for /rest/v1/root_cres and /rest/v1/all_cres, then trace get_root_cres() and the existing pagination logic. Confirm how pagination metadata is built for all_cres, identify where per_page is validated, and define done as bounded responses for both endpoints with page and total_pages returned by root_cres.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
api, backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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