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CVE-2022-22963 — Spring Cloud Function SpEL Injection

Key facts

CVE-2022-22963 is a Critical (9.8) vulnerability: Spring Cloud Function SpEL Injection. This entry ships ready-to-deploy detection and prevention rules (Snort, YARA, Nginx, Apache) plus a detection-only PoC and a Docker test lab. It is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog (added 2022-08-25), confirming active exploitation in the wild.

Actively exploited — on the CISA KEV catalog

CVE-2022-22963 is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog (added 2022-08-25), confirming exploitation in the wild. Federal remediation deadline: 2022-09-15. Prioritise patching and deploy the detection and prevention rules below.
CVE CVE-2022-22963
Severity Critical (9.8)
CISA KEV Actively exploited (added 2022-08-25)
Detection / prevention Snort, YARA, Nginx, Apache
PoC poc.py
Source 2022/CVE-2022-22963/

Details

CVE-2022-22963 is a Critical (9.8) vulnerability: Spring Cloud Function SpEL Injection. This entry ships a detection-only proof-of-concept (PoC), a Docker test lab, and ready-to-deploy detection and prevention rules (Snort, YARA, Nginx, Apache) — see Detection and prevention below. Source: NVD record.

CVSS Type Framework

Description

Remote Code Execution via SpEL injection in Spring Cloud Function routing functionality.

Affected Versions

  • Spring Cloud Function 3.1.6, 3.2.2 and older

Mitigation

  1. Upgrade to Spring Cloud Function 3.1.7 or 3.2.3
  2. Disable function routing if not needed
  3. Implement input validation

Verification Process

The PoC uses a multi-stage verification approach:

Step 1: Product/Version Detection (Passive)

[*] Query target endpoint
[*] Detect product signatures and extract version
[*] Check if version is in vulnerable range

Step 2: Active Vulnerability Testing

Method Description Detection
Error-based Tests for error messages indicating vulnerability Error indicators in response
Timing-based Measures response delay with payload Response time significantly longer
Response-based Checks for expected patterns in response Vulnerability indicators present

Verification Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Product Detection                         │
│  Query target → Detect product/version                      │
│  Check if version in vulnerable range                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               Active Vulnerability Testing                   │
│                                                              │
│  1. Error-based Test                                         │
│     └─ Send payload → Check for error indicators            │
│     └─ If error found → CONFIRMED VULNERABLE                │
│                                                              │
│  2. Timing-based Test                                        │
│     └─ Send delay payload → Measure response time           │
│     └─ If delayed → CONFIRMED VULNERABLE                    │
│                                                              │
│  3. Response-based Test                                      │
│     └─ Send payload → Check response content                │
│     └─ If pattern matches → CONFIRMED VULNERABLE            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Usage

# Full vulnerability check (version + active testing)
python3 poc.py -t https://target.com -c

# Version-only check (passive, no payloads sent)
python3 poc.py -t https://target.com -c --version-only

References

Detection and prevention

Ready-to-deploy defensive rules for CVE-2022-22963, for authorized testing and blue-team detection engineering:

References: NVD — CVE-2022-22963 · full write-up on the searchable site

Detection & prevention rules

# CVE-2022-22963 - Snort IDS Rules
# Severity: High

# Detect potential exploit attempts
alert tcp $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HOME_NET $HTTP_PORTS (
    msg:"CVE-2022-22963 Potential Exploit Attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:".."; http_uri;
    classtype:web-application-attack;
    sid:2022229631;
    rev:1;
    metadata:cve CVE-2022-22963, severity high;
)

# Detect suspicious patterns in request
alert tcp $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HOME_NET $HTTP_PORTS (
    msg:"CVE-2022-22963 Suspicious Request Pattern";
    flow:to_server,established;
    pcre:"/(%2e%2e|%252e|\x00)/Ui";
    classtype:web-application-attack;
    sid:2022229632;
    rev:1;
    metadata:cve CVE-2022-22963, severity high;
)

:material-file-download: prevention/snort.rules

/*
 * CVE-2022-22963 - YARA Detection Rules
 */

rule CVE_2022_22963_Exploit {
    meta:
        description = "Detects potential CVE-2022-22963 exploit attempts"
        author = "Security Research Team"
        severity = "high"
        cve = "CVE-2022-22963"

    strings:
        $path_traversal1 = "../" ascii wide
        $path_traversal2 = "..\" ascii wide
        $encoded1 = "%2e%2e" ascii wide nocase
        $encoded2 = "%252e" ascii wide nocase
        $null_byte = "%00" ascii wide

    condition:
        any of them
}

:material-file-download: prevention/yara.yar

# CVE-2022-22963 - Prevention Rules for Nginx

# Block common exploit patterns
location / {
    # Rate limiting
    limit_req zone=general burst=20 nodelay;

    # Block suspicious patterns
    if ($request_uri ~* "(\.\.[\/]|%2e%2e|%252e)") {
        return 403;
    }

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
}

# Log suspicious activity
access_log /var/log/nginx/CVE-2022-22963-access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/CVE-2022-22963-error.log;

:material-file-download: prevention/nginx.conf

# CVE-2022-22963 - Prevention Rules for Apache httpd

# Block common exploit patterns
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On

    # Block path traversal
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (\.\.[\/]|%2e%2e|%252e) [NC]
    RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

    # Block null bytes
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} %00 [NC]
    RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>

# Security headers
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header always set X-Frame-Options "DENY"
Header always set X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"

# Enable logging
CustomLog /var/log/httpd/CVE-2022-22963-access.log combined
ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/CVE-2022-22963-error.log

:material-file-download: prevention/httpd.conf

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-22963?

CVE-2022-22963 is a Critical (9.8) vulnerability: Spring Cloud Function SpEL Injection. This entry ships ready-to-deploy detection and prevention rules (Snort, YARA, Nginx, Apache) plus a detection-only PoC and a Docker test lab. It is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog (added 2022-08-25), confirming active exploitation in the wild.

How do I detect CVE-2022-22963?

Deploy the Snort and YARA detection rule included with this entry (see Detection & prevention rules below), then validate it against the detection-only PoC in the Docker test lab.

How do I block or mitigate CVE-2022-22963?

Apply the Nginx and Apache mitigation config included with this entry, and upgrade to a fixed version per the vendor advisory (see the NVD record for affected versions).

Is CVE-2022-22963 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2022-22963 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added 2022-08-25, which means it has been exploited in the wild. CISA set a federal remediation deadline of 2022-09-15. Prioritise patching and deploy the detection and prevention rules above.

For authorized security testing and research only. See the full source and NVD record.