# CVE-2022-22138: Denial of Service (DoS)

> An attacker can cause a segmentation fault and denial of service in applications using the fast-string-search library by providing non-string inputs.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Jun 2022
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4263-q746-94mw

## What is CVE-2022-22138?

CVE-2022-22138 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in fast-string-search, published on 17 Jun 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

All versions of package fast-string-search are vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) when computations are incorrect for non-string inputs. One can cause the V8 to attempt reading from non-permitted locations and cause a segmentation fault due to the violation.

Weakness: CWE-682 (Incorrect Calculation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-22138?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including fast-string-search. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `fast-string-search` | npm | All versions to 1.4.3 | None |
| `fast-string-search` | npm | All versions to 1.4.3 | None |

Products: Fast String Search Project Fast String Search.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-22138?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-22138 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-22138 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-22138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in fast-string-search

- [CVE-2022-25872](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-25872/): Out-of-bounds Read (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-22138 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-22138 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in fast-string-search, published on 17 Jun 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-22138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- fast-string-search (npm): affected all versions up to 1.4.3; no fix listed
- fast-string-search (npm): affected all versions up to 1.4.3; no fix listed

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22138/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22138/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-22138
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-22138
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-22138

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22138/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.