CVE-2022-45693 is a high-severity vulnerability classified as a stack overflow (CWE-787) found in versions of the Jettison library prior to 1.5.2. The vulnerability arises from improper handling of the 'map' parameter, which can be manipulated by an attacker to supply a crafted string that triggers a stack overflow condition. This overflow can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) by crashing the affected application or causing it to behave unpredictably. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without requiring any authentication or user interaction, as indicated by the CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N). The scope is unchanged, meaning the impact is limited to the vulnerable component itself. While no known exploits are reported in the wild, the vulnerability’s nature and ease of exploitation make it a significant risk. The lack of vendor and product information suggests that Jettison is likely a third-party library or component used in various software projects, potentially in Java-based environments, given Jettison’s known use as a JSON library. The absence of patch links implies that users should upgrade to version 1.5.2 or later where the issue is resolved. The vulnerability impacts availability only, with no direct confidentiality or integrity compromise. The stack overflow could cause application crashes or service interruptions, affecting system stability and reliability.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2022-45693 is the potential for service disruption due to Denial of Service attacks targeting applications that incorporate the vulnerable Jettison library. This can affect web services, APIs, or backend systems relying on JSON processing via Jettison. Disruptions could lead to downtime, loss of productivity, and potential reputational damage, especially for critical infrastructure providers, financial institutions, and public sector services that depend on high availability. Since the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the risk of data breaches is low; however, availability impacts can still have cascading effects on business operations and compliance with regulations such as the EU’s NIS Directive, which mandates cybersecurity for essential services. Organizations with automated systems or microservices architectures that use Jettison may experience amplified effects due to dependency chains. The lack of authentication and user interaction requirements means attackers can exploit this remotely and at scale, increasing the threat surface.

European organizations should first identify all software components and applications that use the Jettison library, particularly versions prior to 1.5.2. This can be achieved through software composition analysis (SCA) tools and dependency scanning. Immediate mitigation involves upgrading to Jettison version 1.5.2 or later, where the stack overflow vulnerability has been addressed. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, organizations should implement network-level protections such as web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious payloads targeting the 'map' parameter. Rate limiting and anomaly detection can help mitigate exploitation attempts. Additionally, thorough input validation and sanitization should be enforced at the application layer to prevent malformed strings from reaching the vulnerable code. Monitoring application logs for crashes or unusual behavior related to JSON processing can provide early warning signs of exploitation attempts. Finally, organizations should incorporate this vulnerability into their incident response plans and ensure that security teams are aware of the potential for DoS attacks via this vector.