CVE-2022-30522
Published: 09 June 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-30522 is a high-severity Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value (CWE-789) vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 6.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2022-30522 affects Apache HTTP Server version 2.4.53 when mod_sed is configured to perform transformations on inputs that may be very large. The flaw stems from unbounded memory allocation in the module, classified under CWE-789 and CWE-770, which can exhaust resources and force an abort. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 7.5 score reflecting network-accessible denial of service without authentication or user interaction.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can supply oversized data to any context using mod_sed transformations, triggering excessive allocations that crash the worker process and degrade service availability. No confidentiality or integrity impact is possible.
Advisories published via the Apache HTTP Server security page and downstream distributions such as Fedora and Gentoo recommend applying the fixes referenced in those bulletins. The EPSS score reached a peak of 0.1578 after disclosure before settling at 0.1019, indicating emerging exploitation interest that warrants renewed attention.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-52382
Vulnerability details
If Apache HTTP Server 2.4.53 is configured to do transformations with mod_sed in contexts where the input to mod_sed may be very large, mod_sed may make excessively large memory allocations and trigger an abort.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
This control implements explicit throttling on session allocation, addressing the weakness of allocating resources without limits.
Plan testing exercises resource allocation limits and throttling during simulated failures, directly addressing weaknesses that allow unbounded resource use.
Contingency plan updates ensure recovery strategies address unbounded resource allocation, making it harder for attackers to exploit lack of throttling to cause prolonged outages.
Provides continuity when unbounded resource allocation at the primary site leads to exhaustion and downtime.
Alternate services allow operations to continue when primary allocation of resources lacks limits or throttling.
Explicit planning of security-related actions requires defining limits, windows, and resource allocations, making allocation without throttling far less likely.
Measures of performance include tracking allocation behavior and throttling effectiveness, reducing the window for resource exhaustion attacks.
Imposes an inactivity-based limit on network resource allocation, throttling the number of concurrently held connections.