How severe is CVE-2022-41966?

CVE-2022-41966 has a CVSS score of 8.2/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-41966?

CVE-2022-41966 affects the following packages: com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2022-41966?

Update com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream to 1.4.20 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-41966 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2022-41966 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2022-41966 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against CVE-2022-41966?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-41966 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2022-41966 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 3 known exploit references for CVE-2022-41966, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2022-41966?

CVE-2022-41966 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 8.7%, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

When was CVE-2022-41966 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2022-41966 was published on December 27, 2022 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2022-41966: XStream Denial of Service via stack overflow…

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

8.7%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk94th percentile+6.31%

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.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

☕com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream

Real-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

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only as default map or set, is to change the default implementation of java.util.Map and java.util per the code example in the referenced advisory. However, this implies that your application does not care about the implementation of the map and all elements are comparable.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream`	all versions	1.4.20

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream to 1.4.20 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-41966 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-41966 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2022-41966. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2022-41966 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2022-41966 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVE-2022-41966