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Vulnerability · Published Dec 27, 2022 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2022-41966XStream Denial of Service via stack overflow

High 8.2

In plain English

A high-severity buffer overflow in xstream from x-stream. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 9.3% (higher than 95% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)8.2High
Exploit odds (30 days)9.3%top 4.6% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc
Attack tooling1Public PoC

Official description

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only as default map or set, is to change the default implementation of java.util.Map and java.util per the code example in the referenced advisory. However, this implies that your application does not care about the implementation of the map and all elements are comparable.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12libxstream-java1.4.20-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-41966
Debian:13libxstream-java1.4.20-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-41966
Debian:14libxstream-java1.4.20-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-41966
Mavencom.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream1.4.20GHSA-j563-grx4-pjpv
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlibxstream-java1.4.18-2ubuntu0.1USN-5946-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlibxstream-java1.4.18-2ubuntu0.1UBUNTU-CVE-2022-41966
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlibxstream-javano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-41966
Ubuntu:25.10libxstream-javano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-41966
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSlibxstream-javano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-41966
Ubuntu:26.10libxstream-javano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-41966

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
x-stream xstream < 1.4.20

Weakness: CWE-120, CWE-121, CWE-502 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H

References