CVE-2022-20792

A vulnerability in the regex module used by the signature database load module of Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV) versions 0.104.0 through 0.104.2 and LTS version 0.103.5 and prior versions could allow an authenticated, local attacker to crash ClamAV at database load time, and possibly gain code execution. The vulnerability is due to improper bounds checking that may result in a multi-byte heap buffer overwflow write. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by placing a crafted CDB ClamAV signature database file in the ClamAV database directory. An exploit could allow the attacker to run code as the clamav user.

Published: 2022-08-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-20792 is rated Moderate Risk (44.4/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.17%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-20792

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-13 0.14% 0.17% +0.03%
2 2026-02-08 0.17% 0.14% -0.03%
3 2026-01-17 — 0.17% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-20792

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-20792

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-20792

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2022-20792: 1 source package rows (clamav); 25 state rows across 3 repos (3.12-main, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 1, open 24. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-20792
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-20792 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (clamav), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-20792
gentoo normal CVE-2022-20792: 1 GLSA(s) (202310-01), 1 atom(s) (app-antivirus/clamav); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-20792
suse high CVE-2022-20792 severity important: SUSE including 31 source package names (clamav-0.103.11-150600.16.7, clamav-0.103.6-0.20.47.1, …), 54 product×package rows across 16 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-SAP-Azure-LI-BYOS-Production, Image SLES12-SP5-SAP-Azure-VLI-BYOS-Production, … (16 product lines)): Fixed 54. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-20792/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-20792 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (clamav), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-20792

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-20792

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
clamav clamav <= 0.103.5 cpe:2.3:a:clamav:clamav:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
clamav clamav >= 0.104.0, <= 0.104.2 cpe:2.3:a:clamav:clamav:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-20792

cvelogic Threat Intelligence