What is CVE-2022-26477?

CVE-2022-26477 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in org.apache.systemds:systemds (maven), affecting versions < 2.2.2. It is fixed in 2.2.2. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.

How severe is CVE-2022-26477?

CVE-2022-26477 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-26477?

org.apache.systemds:systemds (maven) versions = 0, < 2.2.2.

Is there a fix for CVE-2022-26477?

Yes. CVE-2022-26477 is fixed in 2.2.2. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is CVE-2022-26477 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2022-26477 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

What actually determines whether CVE-2022-26477 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

CVE-2022-26477 in org.apache.systemds:systemds

Q: How severe is CVE-2022-26477?

CVE-2022-26477 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Q: Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-26477?

org.apache.systemds:systemds (maven) versions = 0, < 2.2.2.

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2022-26477?

Yes. CVE-2022-26477 is fixed in 2.2.2. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is CVE-2022-26477 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2022-26477 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

Q: What actually determines whether CVE-2022-26477 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

Q: How do I fix CVE-2022-26477?

Upgrade: org.apache.systemds:systemds to 2.2.2 or later, systemds to 2.2.2 or later.

Summary

SystemDS CPU exhaustion vulnerability

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.

Impact

Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.

CVE-2022-26477 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (2.2.2); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

org.apache.systemds:systemds (< 2.2.2) systemds (>= 0, < 2.2.2)

Security releases

org.apache.systemds:systemds → 2.2.2 (maven) systemds → 2.2.2 (pip)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

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Remediation advice

Upgrade the following packages to resolve this vulnerability:

org.apache.systemds:systemds to 2.2.2 or later; systemds to 2.2.2 or later

Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-26477? CVE-2022-26477 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in org.apache.systemds:systemds (maven), affecting versions < 2.2.2. It is fixed in 2.2.2. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
How severe is CVE-2022-26477? CVE-2022-26477 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-26477?
- org.apache.systemds:systemds (maven) (versions < 2.2.2)
- systemds (pip) (versions >= 0, < 2.2.2)
Is there a fix for CVE-2022-26477? Yes. CVE-2022-26477 is fixed in 2.2.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is CVE-2022-26477 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-26477 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
What actually determines whether CVE-2022-26477 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
How do I fix CVE-2022-26477?
- Upgrade org.apache.systemds:systemds to 2.2.2 or later
- Upgrade systemds to 2.2.2 or later