CVE-2022-21700 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in io.micronaut:micronaut-http. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2022-21700 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Memory leak in micronaut-core
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-21700.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-21700 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 0 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
io.micronaut:micronaut-httpReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Micronaut is a JVM-based, full stack Java framework designed for building JVM web applications with support for Java, Kotlin and the Groovy language. In affected versions sending an invalid Content Type header leads to memory leak in DefaultArgumentConversionContext as this type is erroneously used in static state. ### Impact Sending an invalid Content Type header leads to memory leak in DefaultArgumentConversionContext as this type is erroneously used in static state. ### Patches The problem is patched in Micronaut 3.2.7 and above. ### Workarounds The default content type binder can be replaced in an existing Micronaut application to mitigate the issue: java package example; import java.util.List; import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Replaces; import io.micronaut.core.convert.ConversionService; import io.micronaut.http.MediaType; import io.micronaut.http.bind.DefaultRequestBinderRegistry; import io.micronaut.http.bind.binders.RequestArgumentBinder; import jakarta.inject.Singleton; @Singleton @Replaces(DefaultRequestBinderRegistry.class) class FixedRequestBinderRegistry extends DefaultRequestBinderRegistry { public FixedRequestBinderRegistry(ConversionService conversionService, List<RequestArgumentBinder> binders) { super(conversionService, binders); } @Override protected void registerDefaultConverters(ConversionService<?> conversionService) { super.registerDefaultConverters(conversionService); conversionService.addConverter(CharSequence.class, MediaType.class, charSequence -> { try { return MediaType.of(charSequence); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { return null; } }); } } ### References Commit that introduced the vulnerability https://github.com/micronaut-projects/micronaut-core/commit/b8ec32c311689667c69ae7d9f9c3b3a8abc96fe3 ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: * Open an issue in Micronaut Core * Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.micronaut:micronaut-http | all versions | 3.2.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for io.micronaut:micronaut-http. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update io.micronaut:micronaut-http to 3.2.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-21700 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-21700 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2022-21700. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-21700 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2022-21700 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.