CVE-2022-45685 is a high-severity vulnerability identified as a stack overflow in the Jettison library, specifically in versions prior to 1.5.2. Jettison is a Java library used to convert JSON data to XML and vice versa, commonly integrated into Java-based applications and frameworks that handle JSON processing. The vulnerability arises when the library processes crafted JSON input that triggers a stack overflow condition. This overflow can cause the affected application to crash or become unresponsive, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) condition. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 reflects that the vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N). The impact is limited to availability (A:H), with no direct confidentiality or integrity compromise. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), indicating that the flaw involves writing data outside the bounds of allocated memory on the stack, which leads to corruption of the execution stack and application failure. No known exploits have been reported in the wild as of the published date (December 13, 2022), and no official patches or vendor advisories are linked, suggesting that remediation may require upgrading to Jettison version 1.5.2 or later once available. Given the nature of the vulnerability, attackers can craft malicious JSON payloads to reliably trigger the overflow and disrupt services that rely on Jettison for JSON processing, particularly in web services, middleware, or enterprise applications that parse external JSON data streams.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2022-45685 is service disruption due to Denial of Service attacks. Organizations that utilize Java-based applications incorporating the Jettison library for JSON processing are at risk of having critical services interrupted, which can affect business continuity, customer-facing applications, and internal operations. Sectors such as finance, telecommunications, government, and healthcare, which often rely on Java middleware and JSON data interchange, could experience outages or degraded service availability. While the vulnerability does not directly expose sensitive data or allow unauthorized data modification, the resulting downtime can lead to indirect consequences such as loss of customer trust, regulatory non-compliance (especially under GDPR if service interruptions impact data processing obligations), and financial losses. Additionally, attackers could use this vulnerability as part of a multi-stage attack to distract or exhaust incident response resources. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the potential for future exploitation, especially as exploit code may be developed and shared over time.

European organizations should proactively identify and inventory all applications and services that use the Jettison library for JSON processing. Since no direct patch links are provided, organizations should monitor official Jettison repositories and vendor advisories for the release of version 1.5.2 or later that addresses this vulnerability. In the interim, consider implementing the following mitigations: 1) Employ input validation and JSON schema validation to reject malformed or suspicious JSON payloads before they reach the Jettison processing layer. 2) Use runtime application self-protection (RASP) or web application firewalls (WAFs) configured to detect and block anomalous JSON inputs that could trigger stack overflows. 3) Isolate and sandbox services that use Jettison to limit the impact of potential DoS conditions, ensuring that failures do not cascade to critical systems. 4) Implement robust monitoring and alerting on application crashes and unusual resource consumption patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 5) Where feasible, replace or supplement Jettison with alternative JSON processing libraries that do not exhibit this vulnerability. 6) Conduct thorough testing of application updates in staging environments to verify that JSON handling is secure and stable post-mitigation.