CVE-2022-29240
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedScylla is a real-time big data database that is API-compatible with Apache Cassandra and Amazon DynamoDB. When decompressing CQL frame received from user, Scylla assumes that user-provided uncompressed length is correct. If user provides fake length, that is greater than the real one, part of decompression buffer won't be overwritten, and will be left uninitialized. This can be exploited in several ways, depending on the privileges of the user. 1. The main exploit is that an attacker with access to CQL port, but no user account, can bypass authentication, but only if there are other legitimate clients making connections to the cluster, and they use LZ4. 2. Attacker that already has a user account on the cluster can read parts of uninitialized memory, which can contain things like passwords of other users or fragments of other queries / results, which leads to authorization bypass and sensitive information disclosure. The bug has been patched in the following versions: Scylla Enterprise: 2020.1.14, 2021.1.12, 2022.1.0. Scylla Open Source: 4.6.7, 5.0.3. Users unable to upgrade should make sure none of their drivers connect to cluster using LZ4 compression, and that Scylla CQL port is behind firewall. Additionally make sure no untrusted client can connect to Scylla, by setting up authentication and applying workarounds from previous point (firewall, no lz4 compression).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisMemory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.
General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 4.6.7< 2020.1.14>= 5.0.0, < 5.0.3>= 2021.1.0, < 2021.1.12CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped4.6.75.0.32020.1.14
Scylla Open Source: 4.6.7 or 5.0.3; Scylla Enterprise: 2020.1.14, 2021.1.12, or 2022.1.0
- Identify whether you are using Scylla Open Source or Scylla Enterprise
- For Scylla Open Source users: Upgrade to version 4.6.7 or later (or 5.0.3 or later if using the 5.x branch)
- For Scylla Enterprise users: Upgrade to version 2020.1.14, 2021.1.12, or 2022.1.0 or later
- After upgrading, verify that LZ4 compression is properly handling decompression buffers
- If unable to upgrade immediately, apply workarounds: 1) Disable LZ4 compression on all client drivers connecting to the cluster, 2) Place Scylla CQL port behind a firewall to prevent untrusted access, 3) Ensure authentication is properly configured for all connections
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-29240 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-29240 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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