CVE-2022-31023 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-209 vulnerability in com.typesafe.play:play_2.12. A fix is available for com.typesafe.play:play_2.12 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Dev error stack trace leaking into prod in Play Framework
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-2022-31023.
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-2022-31023 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 377,238 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
com.typesafe.play:play_2.12☕com.typesafe.play:play_2.13Real-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
Play Framework is a web framework for Java and Scala. Verions prior to 2.8.16 are vulnerable to generation of error messages containing sensitive information. Play Framework, when run in dev mode, shows verbose errors for easy debugging, including an exception stack trace. Play does this by configuring its DefaultHttpErrorHandler to do so based on the application mode. In its Scala API Play also provides a static object DefaultHttpErrorHandler that is configured to always show verbose errors. This is used as a default value in some Play APIs, so it is possible to inadvertently use this version in production. It is also possible to improperly configure the DefaultHttpErrorHandler object instance as the injected error handler. Both of these situations could result in verbose errors displaying to users in a production application, which could expose sensitive information from the application. In particular, the constructor for CORSFilter and apply method for CORSActionBuilder use the static object DefaultHttpErrorHandler as a default value. This is patched in Play Framework 2.8.16. The DefaultHttpErrorHandler object has been changed to use the prod-mode behavior, and DevHttpErrorHandler has been introduced for the dev-mode behavior. A workaround is available. When constructing a CORSFilter or CORSActionBuilder, ensure that a properly-configured error handler is passed. Generally this should be done by using the HttpErrorHandler instance provided through dependency injection or through Play's BuiltInComponents. Ensure that the application is not using the DefaultHttpErrorHandler static object in any code that may be run in production.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.typesafe.play:play_2.12 | all versions | 2.8.16com.typesafe.play:play_2.12:2.8.16 |
| ☕Maven | com.typesafe.play:play_2.13 | all versions | 2.8.16com.typesafe.play:play_2.13:2.8.16 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.typesafe.play:play_2.12, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.typesafe.play:play_2.12 to 2.8.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-31023 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-2022-31023 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-31023. 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-2022-31023 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-31023 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.