CVE-2022-50277: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-5935-5rv9-4v2p
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CVSS 5.5
CWE-476
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2022-50277 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is null.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2022-50277 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2022-50277
GHSA Identifier GHSA-5935-5rv9-4v2p
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

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

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
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-2022-50277

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

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

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2022-50277, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

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

Note: The mvn dependency:tree 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 CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference, where the product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is null. In Software, 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

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: don't allow journal inode to have encrypt flag Mounting a filesystem whose journal inode has the encrypt flag causes a NULL dereference in fscrypt_limit_io_blocks() when the 'inlinecrypt' mount option is used. The problem is that when jbd2_journal_init_inode() calls bmap(), it eventually finds its way into ext4_iomap_begin(), which calls fscrypt_limit_io_blocks(). fscrypt_limit_io_blocks() requires that if the inode is encrypted, then its encryption key must already be set up. That's not the case here, since the journal inode is never "opened" like a normal file would be. Hence the crash. A reproducer is: mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/vdb debugfs -w /dev/vdb -R "set_inode_field <8> flags 0x80808" mount /dev/vdb /mnt -o inlinecrypt To fix this, make ext4 consider journal inodes with the encrypt flag to be invalid. (Note, maybe other flags should be rejected on the journal inode too. For now, this is just the minimal fix for the above issue.) I've marked this as fixing the commit that introduced the call to fscrypt_limit_io_blocks(), since that's what made an actual crash start being possible. But this fix could be applied to any version of ext4 that supports the encrypt feature.

References

NVD — CVE-2022-50277 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50277
git.kernel.org/stable/c/105c78e124... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/105c78e12468413e426625831faa7db4284e1fec
git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f7a6626f6... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f7a6626f611aa06d7907aa45b484708dd5ac8bc
git.kernel.org/stable/c/bcc5057e17... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bcc5057e1781a3ee889225480d995c3b5cbde555

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-50277?
CVE-2022-50277 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2022-50277?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2022-50277?
CVE-2022-50277 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2022-50277?
CVE-2022-50277 is classified under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference (The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2022-50277?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. 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 
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  "id" : "GHSA-5935-5rv9-4v2p",
  "modified" : "2025-12-03T21:30:58Z",
  "published" : "2025-09-15T15:31:25Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2022-50277" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\next4: don't allow journal inode to have encrypt flag\n\nMounting a filesystem whose journal inode has the encrypt flag causes a\nNULL dereference in fscrypt_limit_io_blocks() when the 'inlinecrypt'\nmount option is used.\n\nThe problem is that when jbd2_journal_init_inode() calls bmap(), it\neventually finds its way into ext4_iomap_begin(), which calls\nfscrypt_limit_io_blocks().  fscrypt_limit_io_blocks() requires that if\nthe inode is encrypted, then its encryption key must already be set up.\nThat's not the case here, since the journal inode is never \"opened\" like\na normal file would be.  Hence the crash.\n\nA reproducer is:\n\n    mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/vdb\n    debugfs -w /dev/vdb -R \"set_inode_field <8> flags 0x80808\"\n    mount /dev/vdb /mnt -o inlinecrypt\n\nTo fix this, make ext4 consider journal inodes with the encrypt flag to\nbe invalid.  (Note, maybe other flags should be rejected on the journal\ninode too.  For now, this is just the minimal fix for the above issue.)\n\nI've marked this as fixing the commit that introduced the call to\nfscrypt_limit_io_blocks(), since that's what made an actual crash start\nbeing possible.  But this fix could be applied to any version of ext4\nthat supports the encrypt feature.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
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    "type" : "WEB",
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