CVE-2022-34917 Unauthenticated clients may cause OutOfMemoryError on Apache Kafka Brokers
Unauthenticated clients can trigger OutOfMemoryError on Apache Kafka brokers, causing denial of service; administrators should upgrade to patched versions.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2022-34917?
CVE-2022-34917 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Apache Kafka, published on 20 Sep 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
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.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-34917?
9 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.kafka:kafka and kafka. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 2.8.0 | 2.8.2 |
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 2.8.0 | 2.8.2 |
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 3.0.0 | 3.0.2 |
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 3.0.0 | 3.0.2 |
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 3.1.0 | 3.1.2 |
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 3.1.0 | 3.1.2 |
3 more packages
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 3.2.0 | 3.2.3 |
org.apache.kafka:kafka Maven | From 3.2.0 | 3.2.3 |
kafka Bitnami | From 2.8.0 | 2.8.2, 3.0.2, 3.1.2, 3.2.3 |
Products include Apache Kafka.
How do I fix CVE-2022-34917?
Upgrade org.apache.kafka:kafka to a fixed version for your release line: 2.8.2, 3.0.2, 3.1.2 or 3.2.3.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2022-34917 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-34917 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Apache Kafka
- CVE-2026-33557 Apache Kafka: Missing JWT token validation in OAUTHBEARER authentication
- CVE-2025-27818 Apache Kafka: Possible RCE attack via SASL JAAS LdapLoginModule configuration
- CVE-2018-17196 Improper Input Validation in Apache Kafka
- CVE-2026-35554 Apache Kafka Clients: Kafka Producer Message Corruption and Misrouting via Buffer Pool Race Condition
- CVE-2025-27817 Apache Kafka Client: Arbitrary file read and SSRF vulnerability
Sources
Also known as BIT-kafka-2022-34917, GHSA-c9h3-c6qj-hh7q.