CVE-2022-21672 | /etc/pki/tls and /etc/ssl/certs include distrusted certificates in make-ca

make-ca is a utility to deliver and manage a complete PKI configuration for workstations and servers. Starting with version 0.9 and prior to version 1.10, make-ca misinterprets Mozilla certdata.txt and treats explicitly untrusted certificates like trusted ones, causing those explicitly untrusted certificates trusted by the system. The explicitly untrusted certificates were used by some CAs already hacked. Hostile attackers may perform a MIM attack exploiting them. Everyone using the affected versions of make-ca should upgrade to make-ca-1.10, and run `make-ca -f -g` as the `root` user to regenerate the trusted store immediately. As a workaround, users may delete the untrusted certificates from /etc/pki/tls and /etc/ssl/certs manually (or by a script), but this is not recommended because the manual changes will be overwritten next time running make-ca to update the trusted anchor.

Published: 2022-01-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-21672 is rated Low Risk (39.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.20%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2022-21672

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 2025-03-30 0.32% 0.20% -0.12%
2 2025-03-29 0.20% 0.32% +0.12%
3 2025-03-17 0.20%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-21672

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-21672

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21672

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfromscratch make-ca >= 0.9, < 1.10 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfromscratch:make-ca:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-21672

cvelogic Threat Intelligence