Node DOS by way of memory exhaustion through ExecSync request in CRI-O

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

7.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS

• CVE-2022-1708: 3.16% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 88.02 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Description An ExecSync request runs a command in a container and returns the output to the Kubelet. It is used for readiness and liveness probes within a pod. The way CRI-O runs ExecSync commands is through conmon. CRI-O asks conmon to start the process, and conmon writes the output to disk. CRI-O then reads the output and returns it to the Kubelet. If the output of the command is large enough, it is possible to exhaust the memory (or disk usage) of the node. The following deployment is an example yaml file that will output around 8GB of ‘A’ characters, which would be written to disk by conmon and read by CRI-O. Impact It is possible for the node to be exhausted of memory or disk space, depending on the node the command is being run on. What is further problematic is that the memory and disk usage aren't attributed to the container, as this file and its processing are implementation details of CRI-O. The consequence of the exhaustion is that other services on the node, e.g. other…

Published by the source

6 Jun 2022, 21:50 UTC

Last modified by the source

24 Jul 2023, 19:33 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 14:58 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-fcm2-6c3h-pg6j

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2022-1708

Advisory: Node DOS by way of memory exhaustion through ExecSync request in CRI-O
IDs: CVE-2022-1708, GHSA-fcm2-6c3h-pg6j
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2022-1708 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 14:58 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/cri-o/cri-o 1.24.1, 1.23.3, 1.22.5. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/cri-o/cri-o: affected >= 1.24.0, <= 1.24.0; >= 1.23.0, < 1.23.3; < 1.22.5; fixed in 1.23.3, 1.24.1, 1.22.5

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/cri-o/cri-o: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/cri-o/cri-o.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-fcm2-6c3h-pg6j (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-fcm2-6c3h-pg6j lists affected ranges: Go github.com/cri-o/cri-o >=1.24.0 =1.23.0 =0 <1.22.5)

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