CVE-2022-21126 | Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions

Exp

The package com.github.samtools:htsjdk before 3.0.1 are vulnerable to Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions due to the createTempDir() function in util/IOUtil.java not checking for the existence of the temporary directory before attempting to create it.

Published: 2022-11-29 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-21126 is rated High Exploit Risk (61.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.70%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2022-21126

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-21126

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 2026-06-15 0.26% 0.70% +0.44%
2 2026-05-25 0.24% 0.26% +0.01%
3 2025-12-10 0.24%

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-21126

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.3 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
3.9 3.4 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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-2022-21126

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-21126

GHSA-96vh-4rfp-c42c · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — HTSJDK is vulnerable to exposure of resource(s) to the wrong sphere

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-21126

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-21126 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (htsjdk), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 7, ignored 6. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-21126

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21126

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
samtools htsjdk < 3.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:samtools:htsjdk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-21126

cvelogic Threat Intelligence