CVE-2022-23221 — h2
CRITICALCVE-2022-23221 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-88 vulnerability in com.h2database:h2. 3 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for com.h2database:h2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Arbitrary code execution in H2 Console
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-23221.
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-2022-23221 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
com.h2database:h2Real-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
H2 Console before 2.1.210 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a jdbc:h2:mem JDBC URL containing the IGNORE_UNKNOWN_SETTINGS=TRUE;FORBID_CREATION=FALSE;INIT=RUNSCRIPT substring, a different vulnerability than CVE-2021-42392.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.h2database:h2 | all versions | 2.1.210com.h2database:h2:2.1.210 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.h2database:h2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.h2database:h2 to 2.1.210 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-23221 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-23221 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-23221. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
In OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) the openshift-enterprise-3.11/metrics-hawkular-metrics-container container image ships a vulnerable version of h2 as part of the underlying images, but as it uses standard configuration and Console is not enabled/started by default, therefore the impact by this vulnerability is…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Fuse 7.11 | h2 | RHSA-2022:5532 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 | h2 | RHSA-2022:4922 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 EUS for RHEL 7 | eap7-h2database-0:1.4.197-2.redhat_00005.1.ep7.el7 | RHSA-2024:10208 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3 EUS for RHEL 7 | eap7-apache-cxf-0:3.4.10-1.SP1_redhat_00001.1.el7eap | RHSA-2024:10207 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 8 | eap7-h2database-0:1.4.197-2.redhat_00004.1.el8eap | RHSA-2022:4919 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 on RHEL 7 | eap7-h2database-0:1.4.197-2.redhat_00004.1.el7eap | RHSA-2022:4918 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-23221 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-23221 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.