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CVE-2022-42889: Text4Shell

Code Injection: Is CVE-2022-42889 real, exploitable, or a false positive? Here's the community verdict.

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signals

public sources

Exploited in wild
Yes
VulnCheck KEV · Jan 12, 2023
Public exploit
Metasploit +2
Metasploit/EDB/PoC
Base severity
9.8 Critical
CVSS
Exploitation prob.
100%
FIRST EPSS
Weakness
CWE-94 · Code Injection
CWE

Reported exploited in the wild (VulnCheck KEV), though not in CISA KEV yet. Treat it as urgent and check your exposure.

cisa ssvc

CISA Vulnrichment · assessed

Exploitation
None
in the wild
Automatable
Yes
at scale
Technical impact
Total
on success

CISA decision, by how critical the affected system is to you:

  • low impact → Track
  • medium impact → Track
  • high impact → Attend

Track: normal patch cycle · Track*: watch closely · Attend: patch sooner · Act: patch now. About SSVC ↗

public exploits

links to sources — we don’t host code
MetasploitExploit-DBGitHub PoC(5)unverified

A working exploit is publicly available from a maintained source. Treat this as higher urgency and verify your exposure.

affected packages

GHSA-599f-7c49-w659 · GitHub rates it critical
  • Mavenorg.apache.commons:commons-text
    Vulnerable
    ≥ 1.5, < 1.10.0
    Fixed in
    1.10.0
  • Mavencom.guicedee.services:commons-text
    Vulnerable
    ≤ 1.2.2.1-jre17
    Fixed in
    no patched version listed

Source: GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0), via OSV.dev. Check your lockfile version against the ranges above.

baseline read

auto · not a community verdict

Likely real & worth prioritising

High base severity and a high real-world exploitation probability both point to a genuine, actively targeted issue.

Based on CVSS · FIRST EPSS

Confirm or dispute →
Affected:ApacheNetappJuniper

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

Apache Commons Text performs variable interpolation, allowing properties to be dynamically evaluated and expanded. The standard format for interpolation is "${prefix:name}", where "prefix" is used to locate an instance of org.apache.commons.text.lookup.StringLookup that performs the interpolation. Starting with version 1.5 and continuing through 1.9, the set of default Lookup instances included interpolators that could result in arbitrary code execution or contact with remote servers. These lookups are: - "script" - execute expressions using the JVM script execution engine (javax.script) - "dns" - resolve dns records - "url" - load values from urls, including from remote servers Applications using the interpolation defaults in the affected versions may be vulnerable to remote code execution or unintentional contact with remote servers if untrusted configuration values are used. Users are recommended to upgrade to Apache Commons Text 1.10.0, which disables the problematic interpolators by default.

References

NVD MITRE CVE.org VulnCheck KEV

Published

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timeline

  1. CISA SSVC assessment · exploitation: none
  2. Added to VulnCheck KEV · reported exploited in the wild
  3. Published by NVD

Score and exploit changes tracked since .

Community ground truth

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In your experience, is this finding real and exploitable?

awaiting field verdicts
Real, but not a risk here
Not a real issue

Curated baseline: TruePositive's read from public sources is Real, needs specific conditions — a starting point, not a community verdict.

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Field notes & remediation

Verdicts are the quick signal. Notes are the evidence and fixes behind them.

  • 0
    Field note · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    The name made this sound like the next Log4Shell, but it is not. It is only exploitable if your application passes untrusted input into Apache Commons Text's StringSubstitutor with the default interpolators, using Commons Text 1.5 to 1.9. That pattern is rare in real applications, because that method is meant for interpolation and developers do not usually feed attacker-controlled data into it. So for most teams this is a scanner finding, not an incident.

    Who is affected: apps using Commons Text 1.5 to 1.9 that actually run the string interpolation on untrusted input.

    How to check: search your code for StringSubstitutor and createInterpolator used on untrusted input. Most codebases have none.

    Commonly flagged by: Trivy, Snyk, Dependabot, Grype.

  • 0
    Remediation · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    Upgrade Apache Commons Text to 1.10.0, where the risky interpolators are off by default. Before treating it as urgent, confirm whether your code actually interpolates untrusted input. If it does not, this is low-priority hygiene, not an emergency.

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Related CVEs

Same weakness: CWE-94 · Code Injection.