GHSA-qw69-rqj8-6qw8
MEDIUMOutOfMemoryError for large multipart without filename in Eclipse Jetty
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.
Blast Radius
org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server☕org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server☕org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-serverReal-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
Servlets with multipart support (e.g. annotated with @MultipartConfig) that call HttpServletRequest.getParameter() or HttpServletRequest.getParts() may cause OutOfMemoryError when the client sends a multipart request with a part that has a name but no filename and a very large content.
This happens even with the default settings of fileSizeThreshold=0 which should stream the whole part content to disk.
An attacker client may send a large multipart request and cause the server to throw OutOfMemoryError.
However, the server may be able to recover after the OutOfMemoryError and continue its service -- although it may take some time.
A very large number of parts may cause the same problem.
Patches
Patched in Jetty versions
- 9.4.51.v20230217 - via PR #9345
- 10.0.14 - via PR #9344
- 11.0.14 - via PR #9344
Workarounds
Multipart parameter maxRequestSize must be set to a non-negative value, so the whole multipart content is limited (although still read into memory).
Limiting multipart parameter maxFileSize won't be enough because an attacker can send a large number of parts that summed up will cause memory issues.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server | all versions | 9.4.51.v20230217 |
| ☕Maven | org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server | ≥ 10.0.0&&< 10.0.14 | 10.0.14 |
| ☕Maven | org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server | ≥ 11.0.0&&< 11.0.14 | 11.0.14 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server. 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 org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server to 9.4.51.v20230217 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qw69-rqj8-6qw8 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 GHSA-qw69-rqj8-6qw8 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 GHSA-qw69-rqj8-6qw8. 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-qw69-rqj8-6qw8 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-qw69-rqj8-6qw8 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.