CVE-2022-26477: The Security Team noticed that the termination condition of the for loop in the readExternal method is a controllable variable, which, if tampered wit...

Description

The Security Team noticed that the termination condition of the for loop in the readExternal method is a controllable variable, which, if tampered with, may lead to CPU exhaustion. As a fix, we added an upper bound and termination condition in the read and write logic. We classify it as a "low-priority but useful improvement". SystemDS is a distributed system and needs to serialize/deserialize data but in many code paths (e.g., on Spark broadcast/shuffle or writing to sequence files) the byte stream is anyway protected by additional CRC fingerprints. In this particular case though, the number of decoders is upper-bounded by twice the number of columns, which means an attacker would need to modify two entries in the byte stream in a consistent manner. By adding these checks robustness was strictly improved with almost zero overhead. These code changes are available in versions higher than 2.2.1.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

7.5/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS Probability

2.04%

78.7th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

Vendor	Product	Versions
Apache	Systemds	<= 2.2.1

References

https://lists.apache.org/thread/r4x2d2r6d4zykdrrx6s2l4qbxgzws0z3Mailing List, Vendor Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220812-0003/Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread/r4x2d2r6d4zykdrrx6s2l4qbxgzws0z3Mailing List, Vendor Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220812-0003/Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published: Jun 27, 2022
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Modified

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-26477?

The Security Team noticed that the termination condition of the for loop in the readExternal method is a controllable variable, which, if tampered with, may lead to CPU exhaustion. As a fix, we added an upper bound and termination condition in the read and write logic. We classify it as a "low-priority but useful improvement". SystemDS is a distributed system and needs to serialize/deserialize data but in many code paths (e.g., on Spark broadcast/shuffle or writing to sequence files) the byte stream is anyway protected by additional CRC fingerprints. In this particular case though, the number of decoders is upper-bounded by twice the number of columns, which means an attacker would need to modify two entries in the byte stream in a consistent manner. By adding these checks robustness was strictly improved with almost zero overhead. These code changes are available in versions higher than 2.2.1.

How severe is CVE-2022-26477?

CVE-2022-26477 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10 (HIGH severity). The EPSS model estimates a 2.04% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2022-26477?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.