CVE-2022-34917 | Unauthenticated clients may cause OutOfMemoryError on Apache Kafka Brokers

A security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka. It affects all releases since 2.8.0. The vulnerability allows malicious unauthenticated clients to allocate large amounts of memory on brokers. This can lead to brokers hitting OutOfMemoryException and causing denial of service. Example scenarios: - Kafka cluster without authentication: Any clients able to establish a network connection to a broker can trigger the issue. - Kafka cluster with SASL authentication: Any clients able to establish a network connection to a broker, without the need for valid SASL credentials, can trigger the issue. - Kafka cluster with TLS authentication: Only clients able to successfully authenticate via TLS can trigger the issue. We advise the users to upgrade the Kafka installations to one of the 3.2.3, 3.1.2, 3.0.2, 2.8.2 versions.

Published: 2022-09-20 Last update: 2025-05-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-34917 is rated Moderate Risk (53.7/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.22%). EPSS rose +1.16% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2022-34917

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 2026-06-15 0.06% 1.22% +1.16%
2 2025-11-21 0.66% 0.06% -0.60%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.66% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-34917

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
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]
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 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-34917

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-34917

GHSA-c9h3-c6qj-hh7q · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Apache Kafka vulnerability can lead to brokers hitting OutOfMemoryException, causing Denial of Service

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-34917

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-34917

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-34917

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache kafka >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache kafka >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache kafka >= 3.1.0, < 3.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache kafka >= 3.2.0, < 3.2.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-34917

URL Tags
https://kafka.apache.org/cve-list Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence