CVE-2022-41966

XStream Denial of Service via stack overflow

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: December 27, 2022 at 11:07 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:04 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorXstream

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 9%
SSVC
PoC

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

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 1.4.20
Affected range stops below 1.4.20, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (3)

x_refsource_MISCExploitVendor Advisory
https://x-stream.github.io/CVE-2022-41966.html
Third Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230216-0005/

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-120CWE-121CWE-502CWE-674

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