GHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc — dd-java-agent
HIGHGHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-770 vulnerability in com.datadoghq:dd-java-agent. A fix is available for com.datadoghq:dd-java-agent — see the affected versions and patch details below.
dd-trace-java: Improper parsing of W3C baggage headers may lead to DoS
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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 GHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc.
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-74xj-wh4w-vqxc 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
com.datadoghq:dd-java-agentReal-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
Datadog tracing libraries that implement W3C baggage propagation parse incoming baggage HTTP headers without enforcing item-count or byte-size limits on the extract path. The DD_TRACE_BAGGAGE_MAX_ITEMS (default 64) and DD_TRACE_BAGGAGE_MAX_BYTES (default 8192) limits were applied only to baggage injection, not extraction. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can send a request whose baggage header contains an arbitrarily large number of comma-separated key-value pairs (or a single very large value). The tracer allocates a hash-map entry for each pair on every request, causing unbounded CPU and memory consumption and enabling a remote Denial of Service against any HTTP service that has the baggage propagation style enabled. The baggage propagation style is enabled by default in most affected tracers, so any internet-facing service that has been instrumented with an affected tracer version is exposed unless the propagation style has been explicitly narrowed.
Patches
This is resolved in version 1.62.0 and later of the dd-trace-java library.
Workarounds
If users cannot upgrade immediately:
- Disable
baggageextraction by removingbaggagefromDD_TRACE_PROPAGATION_STYLE(orDD_TRACE_PROPAGATION_STYLE_EXTRACTif set independently). - Cap the maximum HTTP request header size at an upstream proxy or web server (for example, Apache
LimitRequestFieldSize, Nginxlarge_client_header_buffers, Envoymax_request_headers_kb).
Resources
Related upstream advisories: opentelemetry-go GHSA-mh2q-q3fh-2475 opentelemetry-dotnet GHSA-g94r-2vxg-569j
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.datadoghq:dd-java-agent | all versions | 1.62.0com.datadoghq:dd-java-agent:1.62.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.datadoghq:dd-java-agent, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.datadoghq:dd-java-agent to 1.62.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc 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-74xj-wh4w-vqxc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-74xj-wh4w-vqxc across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.