CVE-2022-31189 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-209 vulnerability in org.dspace:dspace-jspui. A fix is available for org.dspace:dspace-jspui — see the affected versions and patch details below.
"Internal System Error" page in DSpace JSPUI prints exceptions and stack traces without sanitization
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-2022-31189.
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-2022-31189 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 378,156 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
org.dspace:dspace-jspuiReal-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
Impact
When an "Internal System Error" occurs in the JSPUI, then entire exception (including stack trace) is available. Information in this stacktrace may be useful to an attacker in launching a more sophisticated attack. This vulnerability only impacts the JSPUI.
This vulnerability does NOT impact the XMLUI or 7.x.
Patches
DSpace 6.x:
- Fixed in 6.4 via commit: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/afcc6c3389729b85d5c7b0230cbf9aaf7452f31a
- 6.x patch file: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/afcc6c3389729b85d5c7b0230cbf9aaf7452f31a.patch (may be applied manually if an immediate upgrade to 6.4 or above is not possible)
DSpace 5.x:
- The 6.x patch file can also be applied to an older 5.x installation.
- Alternatively, you can simply apply the workaround documented below. The detailed error information embedded in
internal.jspis not necessary for the JSPUI to function.
Apply the patch to your DSpace
If at all possible, we recommend upgrading your DSpace site based on the upgrade instructions. However, if you are unable to do so, you can manually apply the above patches as follows:
- Download the appropriate patch file to the machine where DSpace is running
- From the
[dspace-src]folder, apply the patch, e.g.git apply [name-of-file].patch - Now, update your DSpace site (based loosely on the Upgrade instructions). This generally involves three steps:
- Rebuild DSpace, e.g.
mvn -U clean package(This will recompile all DSpace code) - Redeploy DSpace, e.g.
ant update(This will copy all updated WARs / configs to your installation directory). Depending on your setup you also may need to copy the updated WARs over to your Tomcat webapps folder. - Restart Tomcat
- Rebuild DSpace, e.g.
Workarounds
The detailed error information embedded in internal.jsp is not necessary for the JSPUI to function. Because this error information is also available in the dspace.log files, it does not need to be displayed in internal.jsp.
Modify your internal.jsp, and disable the display of the error message. This is most easily done by setting the returned exception to "null" at all times. For example, add a new line between line number 43 and 44
// This line should exist around line number 43
Throwable ex = (Throwable) request.getAttribute("javax.servlet.error.exception");
// Add workaround for security issue. Ensure exception is always set to null.
ex = null;
// This line should exist around line number 44
if(ex == null) out.println("No stack trace available<br/>");
References
Discovered & reported by Ozkan Erdogan (Brunel University London)
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.dspace:dspace-jspui | ≥ 4.0&&< 6.4 | 6.4org.dspace:dspace-jspui:6.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.dspace:dspace-jspui, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.dspace:dspace-jspui to 6.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-31189 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-2022-31189 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-31189. 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-2022-31189 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-31189 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.