CVE-2022-45129 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-552 vulnerability in fish.payara.distributions:payara. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for fish.payara.distributions:payara — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Payara, when deployed to the root context, allows attackers to visit META-INF and WEB-INF
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-2022-45129.
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-2022-45129 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 377,166 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
fish.payara.distributions:payara☕fish.payara.distributions:payara☕fish.payara.distributions:payaraReal-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
Payara before 2022-11-04, when deployed to the root context, allows attackers to visit META-INF and WEB-INF, a different vulnerability than CVE-2022-37422. This affects Payara Platform Community before 4.1.2.191.38, 5.x before 5.2022.4, and 6.x before 6.2022.1, and Payara Platform Enterprise before 5.45.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | fish.payara.distributions:payara | ≥ 6.2021.1.Alpha1&&< 6.2022.2 | 6.2022.2fish.payara.distributions:payara:6.2022.2 |
| ☕Maven | fish.payara.distributions:payara | ≥ 5.0.0.Alpha1&&< 5.2022.5 | 5.2022.5fish.payara.distributions:payara:5.2022.5 |
| ☕Maven | fish.payara.distributions:payara | all versions | No fix |
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 fish.payara.distributions:payara, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update fish.payara.distributions:payara to 6.2022.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-45129 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-2022-45129 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-45129. 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-2022-45129 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-45129 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.