In recent years,machine learning has made great progress in intrusion detection,network protection,anomaly detection,and other issues in cyberspace.However,these traditional machine learning algorithms usually require a lot of data to leam and have a low recognition rate for unknown attacks.Among them, "one-shot learning", "few-shot learning",and "zero-shot learning" are challenges that cannot be ignored for traditional machine learning.The more intractable problem in cyberspace security is the changeable attack mode.When a new attack mode appears,there are few or even zero samples that can be learned.Meta-learning comes from imitating human problem-solving methods as humans can quickly learn unknown things based on their existing knowledge when learning.Its purpose is to quickly obtain a model with high accuracy and strong generalization through less data training.This article first divides the meta-learning model into five research directions based on different principles of use.They are model-based,metric-based,optimization-based,online-learning-based,or stacked ensemble-based.Then,the current problems in the field of cyberspace security are categorized into three branches:cyber security,information security,and artificial intelligence security according to different perspectives.Then,the application research results of various meta-learning models on these three branches are reviewed.At the same time,based on the characteristics of strong generalization,evolution,and scalability of meta-learning,we contrast and summarize its advantages in solving problems.Finally,the prospect of future deep application of meta-learning in the field of cyberspace security is summarized.