CVE-2022-28366: Neko htmlunit Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-g9hh-vvx3-v37v
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CVSS 7.5
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2022-28366 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Neko htmlunit libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves denial of service in htmlunit-neko. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.27.

CVE-2022-28366 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2022-28366
GHSA Identifier GHSA-g9hh-vvx3-v37v
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification General Security Weakness
Affected Product Neko htmlunit
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2022-28366

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Neko htmlunit dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

net.sourceforge.htmlunit:neko-htmlunit fixed: 2.27 
<dependency>
    <groupId>net.sourceforge.htmlunit</groupId>
    <artifactId>neko-htmlunit</artifactId>
    <version>2.27</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=net.sourceforge.htmlunit

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2022-28366, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=net.sourceforge.htmlunit

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Neko htmlunit in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.27), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=net.sourceforge.htmlunit command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under General Security Weakness. In Neko htmlunit, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Certain Neko-related HTML parsers allow a denial of service via crafted Processing Instruction (PI) input that causes excessive heap memory consumption. In particular, this issue exists in HtmlUnit-Neko through 2.26, and is fixed in 2.27. This issue also exists in CyberNeko HTML through 1.9.22 (also affecting OWASP AntiSamy before 1.6.6), but 1.9.22 is the last version of CyberNeko HTML. NOTE: this may be related to CVE-2022-24939.

CVE-2022-28366 Affected Neko htmlunit Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.27
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
net.sourceforge.htmlunit:neko-htmlunit
maven/net.sourceforge.htmlunit/neko-htmlunit
Maven
< 2.27
2.27

References

NVD — CVE-2022-28366 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-28366
Neko htmlunit Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/HtmlUnit/htmlunit-neko
Neko htmlunit Release RELEASE
https://github.com/nahsra/antisamy/releases/tag/v1.6.6
search.maven.org/artifact/net.source... WEB
https://search.maven.org/artifact/net.sourceforge.htmlunit/neko-htmlunit
sourceforge.net/projects/htmlunit/f... WEB
https://sourceforge.net/projects/htmlunit/files/htmlunit/2.27

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-28366?
CVE-2022-28366 is a security vulnerability in Neko htmlunit involving Denial of service in HtmlUnit-Neko under General Security Weakness.
Which Neko htmlunit versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.27 across affected packages: net.sourceforge.htmlunit:neko-htmlunit.
What version fixes CVE-2022-28366?
Upgrading to 2.27 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is neko-htmlunit affected?
Yes, net.sourceforge.htmlunit:neko-htmlunit is affected in releases prior to 2.27. Upgrade your dependency to 2.27 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2022-28366?
CVE-2022-28366 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2022-28366?
CVE-2022-28366 is classified under General Security Weakness.
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2022-28366?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=net.sourceforge.htmlunit'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-g9hh-vvx3-v37v",
  "modified" : "2022-05-05T13:38:33Z",
  "published" : "2022-04-23T00:03:04Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2022-28366" ],
  "summary" : "Denial of service in HtmlUnit-Neko",
  "details" : "Certain Neko-related HTML parsers allow a denial of service via crafted Processing Instruction (PI) input that causes excessive heap memory consumption. In particular, this issue exists in HtmlUnit-Neko through 2.26, and is fixed in 2.27. This issue also exists in CyberNeko HTML through 1.9.22 (also affecting OWASP AntiSamy before 1.6.6), but 1.9.22 is the last version of CyberNeko HTML. NOTE: this may be related to CVE-2022-24939.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "net.sourceforge.htmlunit:neko-htmlunit"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.27"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-28366"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/HtmlUnit/htmlunit-neko"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/nahsra/antisamy/releases/tag/v1.6.6"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://search.maven.org/artifact/net.sourceforge.htmlunit/neko-htmlunit"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://sourceforge.net/projects/htmlunit/files/htmlunit/2.27"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-04-26T20:12:38Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2022-04-21T23:15:00Z"
  }
}