CVE-2022-21646 | Lookup operations do not take into account wildcards in SpiceDB

SpiceDB is a database system for managing security-critical application permissions. Any user making use of a wildcard relationship under the right hand branch of an `exclusion` or within an `intersection` operation will see `Lookup`/`LookupResources` return a resource as "accessible" if it is *not* accessible by virtue of the inclusion of the wildcard in the intersection or the right side of the exclusion. In `v1.3.0`, the wildcard is ignored entirely in lookup's dispatch, resulting in the `banned` wildcard being ignored in the exclusion. Version 1.4.0 contains a patch for this issue. As a workaround, don't make use of wildcards on the right side of intersections or within exclusions.

Published: 2022-01-11 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-21646 is rated Moderate Risk (58.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.47%). EPSS rose +1.12% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2022-21646

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 0.36% 1.47% +1.12%
2 2026-03-17 0.33% 0.36% +0.03%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.33% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-21646

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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: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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 5.2 [email protected]
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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: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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 5.2 [email protected]
5.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.0 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-21646

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-21646

GHSA-7p8f-8hjm-wm92 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Lookup operations do not take into account wildcards in SpiceDB

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21646

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
authzed spicedb 1.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:authzed:spicedb:1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-21646

cvelogic Threat Intelligence