CVE-2022-29240

    Dashboard / Vulnerabilities / CVE-2022-29240

    CVE-2022-29240

    Published: 15 Sept 2022Last Modified: 12 Aug 2026

    Summary: Uninitialized memory read in LZ4 decompression leads to authentication bypass in Scylla

    Details: Scylla 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).

    Affected packages

    Package

    Name:

    Purl:

    Affected ranges

    Type: GIT

    Events:

    Affected versions

    scylla-4.6.6
    scylla-4.6.5
    scylla-4.6.4
    scylla-4.6.3
    scylla-4.6.2
    scylla-4.6.1
    scylla-4.6.0
    scylla-4.6.rc5
    scylla-4.6.rc4
    scylla-4.6.rc2
    scylla-4.6.rc1
    scylla-4.6.rc0

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High
    CVE-2022-29240 | CVE-DB