CVE-2022-22978Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Authorization bypass via newline-evading regex match

Published May 19, 2022 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Authorization bypass in Spring Security before 5.4.11, 5.5.0 through 5.5.6, and 5.6.0 through 5.6.3 allows attackers to access protected resources. RegexRequestMatcher compiled application-supplied patterns without Pattern.DOTALL, so a servlet-decoded CR or LF in the request path made a dot fail to match the complete path. Exploitation requires a dot in a RegexRequestMatcher rule and a servlet container that preserves encoded line breaks, allowing requests to evade the intended authorization rule.

CVSS severity9.8
Critical
EPSS probability12.35%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Authorization bypass in Spring Security before 5.4.11, 5.5.0 through 5.5.6, and 5.6.0 through 5.6.3 allows attackers to access protected resources. RegexRequestMatcher compiled application-supplied patterns without Pattern.DOTALL, so a servlet-decoded CR or LF in the request path made a dot fail to match the complete path. Exploitation requires a dot in a RegexRequestMatcher rule and a servlet container that preserves encoded line breaks, allowing requests to evade the intended authorization rule.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-22978
Published
May 19, 2022
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Spring
Product
Spring Security
Classifications
CWE-285, CWE-863, T1190
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 19, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=Spring security versions 5.4.x prior to 5.4.11+,5.5.x prior to 5.5.7+,5.6.x prior to 5.6.4+ and all earlier unsupported versions

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Spring · Spring Securityversion=Spring security versions 5.4.x prior to 5.4.11+,5.5.x prior to 5.5.7+,5.6.x prior to 5.6.4+ and all earlier unsupported versions

Published CVSS scores

9.8GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-285Improper Authorization
CWE-863Incorrect Authorization
T1190Exploit Public-Facing Application

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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