CVE-2022-4245 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) CWE-91 vulnerability in org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils. A fix is available for org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Codehaus-plexus: xml external entity (xxe) injection
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-2022-4245.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utilsReal-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
A flaw was found in codehaus-plexus. The org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.XmlWriterUtil#writeComment fails to sanitize comments for a --> sequence. This issue means that text contained in the command string could be interpreted as XML and allow for XML injection.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils | all versions | 3.0.24org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils:3.0.24 |
Affected Products
plexus-utilscodehaus-plexusintegration camel kredhatDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils to 3.0.24 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-4245 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| RHINT Camel-K-1.10.1 | codehaus-plexus | RHSA-2023:3906 |
| RHPAM 7.13.1 async | see advisory | RHSA-2023:2135 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-4245 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.