GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-401 vulnerability in io.vertx:vertx-core. A fix is available for io.vertx:vertx-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Eclipse Vert.x memory leak
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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w.
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
GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w 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.vertx:vertx-core☕io.vertx:vertx-coreReal-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 vulnerability in the Eclipse Vert.x toolkit results in a memory leak due to using Netty FastThreadLocal data structures. Specifically, when the Vert.x HTTP client establishes connections to different hosts, triggering the memory leak. The leak can be accelerated with intimate runtime knowledge, allowing an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. For instance, a server accepting arbitrary internet addresses could serve as an attack vector by connecting to these addresses, thereby accelerating the memory leak.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.vertx:vertx-core | ≥ 4.5.0&&< 4.5.2 | 4.5.2io.vertx:vertx-core:4.5.2 |
| ☕Maven | io.vertx:vertx-core | ≥ 4.4.5&&< 4.4.7 | 4.4.7io.vertx:vertx-core:4.4.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for io.vertx:vertx-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update io.vertx:vertx-core to 4.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w 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 GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w. 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 3.2 | vert.x | RHSA-2024:1706 |
| Cryostat 2 on RHEL 8 | cryostat-tech-preview/cryostat-grafana-dashboard-rhel8:2.4.0-7 | RHSA-2024:2088 |
| MTA-6.2-RHEL-9 | mta/mta-windup-addon-rhel9:6.2.3-2 | RHSA-2024:3989 |
| Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.7.0 | vert.x | RHSA-2024:3527 |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4.4.1 for Spring Boot 3.2 | vert.x | RHSA-2024:4884 |
| Red Hat build of Quarkus 3.2.11.Final | io.vertx/vertx-core:4.4.8.redhat-00001 | RHSA-2024:1662 |
| RHINT Service Registry 2.5.11 GA | vert.x | RHSA-2024:2833 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-5667-3wch-7q7w across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.