CVE-2021-22553 | Heap Memory exhaustion in Gerrit

Any git operation is passed through Jetty and a session is created. No expiry is set for the session and Jetty does not automatically dispose of the session. Over multiple git actions, this can lead to a heap memory exhaustion for Gerrit servers. We recommend upgrading Gerrit to any of the versions listed above.

Published: 2021-02-17 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-22553 is rated Low Risk (35.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-22553

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-10-26 0.15% 0.09% -0.06%
2 2025-03-17 0.07% 0.15% +0.09%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-22553

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-22553

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-22553

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
google gerrit < 2.15.22 cpe:2.3:a:google:gerrit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google gerrit >= 2.16.0, < 2.16.26 cpe:2.3:a:google:gerrit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google gerrit >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.16 cpe:2.3:a:google:gerrit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google gerrit >= 3.1.0, < 3.1.12 cpe:2.3:a:google:gerrit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google gerrit >= 3.2.0, < 3.2.7 cpe:2.3:a:google:gerrit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google gerrit >= 3.3.0, < 3.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:google:gerrit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-22553

URL Tags
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/gerrit/issues/detail?id=13858 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence