CVE-2022-41881 — netty-codec-haproxy
MEDIUMCVE-2022-41881 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-674 vulnerability in io.netty:netty-codec-haproxy. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for io.netty:netty-codec-haproxy — see the affected versions and patch details below.
HAProxyMessageDecoder Stack Exhaustion DoS
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-2022-41881 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
io.netty:netty-codec-haproxyReal-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
A StackOverflowError can be raised when parsing a malformed crafted message due to an infinite recursion.
Patches
Users should upgrade to 4.1.86.Final.
Workarounds
There is no workaround, except using a custom HaProxyMessageDecoder.
References
When parsing a TLV with type = PP2_TYPE_SSL, the value can be again a TLV with type = PP2_TYPE_SSL and so on. The only limitation of the recursion is that the TLV length cannot be bigger than 0xffff because it is encoded in an unsigned short type. Providing a TLV with a nesting level that is large enough will lead to raising of a StackOverflowError. The StackOverflowError will be caught if HAProxyMessageDecoder is used as part of Netty’s ChannelPipeline, but using it directly without the ChannelPipeline will lead to a thrown exception / crash.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in netty
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.netty:netty-codec-haproxy | all versions | 4.1.86.Finalio.netty:netty-codec-haproxy:4.1.86.Final |
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 io.netty:netty-codec-haproxy, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update io.netty:netty-codec-haproxy to 4.1.86.Final or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-41881 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-2022-41881 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-41881. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| CEQ 2.13.2-1 | codec-haproxy | RHSA-2023:0888 |
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes 1 on RHEL 8 | mtr/mtr-web-container-rhel8:1.1-7 | RHSA-2023:3373 |
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes 1 on RHEL 8 | io.netty-netty-parent | RHSA-2023:3374 |
| MTA-6.2-RHEL-9 | mta/mta-windup-addon-rhel9:6.2.0-11 | RHSA-2023:4627 |
| Red Hat build of Eclipse Vert.x 4.3.7 | codec-haproxy | RHSA-2023:0577 |
| Red Hat build of Quarkus | see advisory | RHSA-2023:0758 |
| Red Hat Data Grid 8.4.1 | codec-haproxy | RHSA-2023:0713 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.12 | codec-haproxy | RHSA-2023:3954 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-41881 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-41881 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.