How severe is CVE-2022-23516?

CVE-2022-23516 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2022-23516 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (62nd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2022-23516?

CVE-2022-23516 affects Loofah Project Loofah. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2022-23516?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2022-23516 published?

CVE-2022-23516 was published on 2022-12-14 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2022-23516

CVE-2022-23516 is a high-severity vulnerability in Loofah Project Loofah with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-674.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.5)
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (62nd percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-674
Affected product: Loofah Project Loofah
Published: 2022-12-14
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

Loofah is a general library for manipulating and transforming HTML/XML documents and fragments, built on top of Nokogiri. Loofah >= 2.2.0, < 2.19.1 uses recursion for sanitizing CDATA sections, making it susceptible to stack exhaustion and raising a SystemStackError exception. This may lead to a denial of service through CPU resource consumption. This issue is patched in version 2.19.1. Users who are unable to upgrade may be able to mitigate this vulnerability by limiting the length of the strings that are sanitized.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-23516?: Loofah is a general library for manipulating and transforming HTML/XML documents and fragments, built on top of Nokogiri. Loofah >= 2.2.0, < 2.19.1 uses recursion for sanitizing CDATA sections, making it susceptible to stack exhaustion and raising a SystemStackError exception. This may lead to a denial of service through CPU resource consumption. This issue is patched in version 2.19.1. Users who are unable to upgrade may be able to mitigate this vulnerability by limiting the length of the strings that are sanitized.
How severe is CVE-2022-23516?: CVE-2022-23516 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2022-23516 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (62nd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2022-23516?: CVE-2022-23516 affects Loofah Project Loofah. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2022-23516?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2022-23516 published?: CVE-2022-23516 was published on 2022-12-14 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:loofah_project:loofah:*:*:*:*:*:ruby:*:*

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