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Play Framework CVE-2022-31018

HIGH
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)
2022-06-02 security-advisories@github.com
7.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource consumption limits
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A remote attacker could cause denial of service by exhausting system resources by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 1.6% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

Play Framework is a web framework for Java and Scala. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability could allow attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting system resources.

RemediationAI

A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Implement rate limiting, set resource quotas, validate input sizes, use timeouts.

Affected Packages

maven com.typesafe.play:play_2.12 fix: 2.8.16
maven com.typesafe.play:play_2.13 fix: 2.8.16

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 2 packages in maven

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400), which allows attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting system resources. Play Framework is a web framework for Java and Scala. A denial of service vulnerability has been discovered in verions 2.8.3 through 2.8.15 of Play's forms library, in both the Scala and Java APIs. This can occur when using either the Form#bindFromRequest method on a JSON request body or the Form#bind method directly on a JSON value. If the JSON data being bound to the form contains a deeply-nested JSON object or array, the form binding implementation may consume all available heap space and cause an OutOfMemoryError. If executing on the default dispatcher and akka.jvm-exit-on-fatal-error is enabled-as it is by default-then this can crash the application process. Form.bindFromRequest is vulnerable when using any body parser that produces a type of AnyContent or JsValue in Scala, or one that can produce a JsonNode in Java. This includes Play's default body parser. This vulnerability been patched in version 2.8.16. There is now a global limit on the depth of a JSON object that can be parsed, which can be configured by the user if necessary. As a workaround, applications that do not need to parse a request body of type application/json can switch from the default body parser to another body parser that supports only the specific type of body they expect. Affected products include: Lightbend Play Framework. Version information: through 2.8.15.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

DescriptionNVD

Play Framework is a web framework for Java and Scala. A denial of service vulnerability has been discovered in verions 2.8.3 through 2.8.15 of Play's forms library, in both the Scala and Java APIs. This can occur when using either the Form#bindFromRequest method on a JSON request body or the Form#bind method directly on a JSON value. If the JSON data being bound to the form contains a deeply-nested JSON object or array, the form binding implementation may consume all available heap space and cause an OutOfMemoryError. If executing on the default dispatcher and akka.jvm-exit-on-fatal-error is enabled-as it is by default-then this can crash the application process. Form.bindFromRequest is vulnerable when using any body parser that produces a type of AnyContent or JsValue in Scala, or one that can produce a JsonNode in Java. This includes Play's default body parser. This vulnerability been patched in version 2.8.16. There is now a global limit on the depth of a JSON object that can be parsed, which can be configured by the user if necessary. As a workaround, applications that do not need to parse a request body of type application/json can switch from the default body parser to another body parser that supports only the specific type of body they expect.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
1.6%
Top 27% exploitable
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 1.6%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

40
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +2
CVSS: +38
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:lightbend:play_framework:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2014-3630 CRITICAL
9.8 Dec 29

XML external entity (XXE) vulnerability in the Java XML processing functionality in Play before 2.2.6 and 2.3.x before 2

CVE-2020-2200 HIGH
8.8 Jun 03

Jenkins Play Framework Plugin 1.0.2 and earlier lets users specify the path to the `play` command on the Jenkins master

CVE-2015-2156 HIGH
7.5 Oct 18

Netty before 3.9.8.Final, 3.10.x before 3.10.3.Final, 4.0.x before 4.0.28.Final, and 4.1.x before 4.1.0.Beta5 and Play F

CVE-2022-31023 HIGH
7.5 Jun 02

Play Framework is a web framework for Java and Scala. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exp

CVE-2020-27196 HIGH
7.5 Nov 06

An issue was discovered in PlayJava in Play Framework 2.6.0 through 2.8.2. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerab

CVE-2020-26883 HIGH
7.5 Nov 06

In Play Framework 2.6.0 through 2.8.2, stack consumption can occur because of unbounded recursion during parsing of craf

CVE-2020-26882 HIGH
7.5 Nov 06

In Play Framework 2.6.0 through 2.8.2, data amplification can occur when an application accepts multipart/form-data JSON

CVE-2019-17598 HIGH
7.5 Nov 05

An issue was discovered in Lightbend Play Framework 2.5.x through 2.6.23. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerabi

CVE-2018-13864 HIGH
7.5 Jul 17

A directory traversal vulnerability has been found in the Assets controller in Play Framework 2.6.12 through 2.6.15 (fix

CVE-2020-12480 MEDIUM
6.5 Aug 17

In Play Framework 2.6.0 through 2.8.1, the CSRF filter can be bypassed by making CORS simple requests with content types

CVE-2020-28923 LOW
2.7 Dec 03

An issue was discovered in Play Framework 2.8.0 through 2.8.4. Rated low severity (CVSS 2.7), this vulnerability is remo

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