CVE-2022-21944 | watchman: chown in [email protected] unit allows symlink attack

A UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following vulnerability in the systemd service file for watchman of openSUSE Backports SLE-15-SP3, Factory allows local attackers to escalate to root. This issue affects: openSUSE Backports SLE-15-SP3 watchman versions prior to 4.9.0. openSUSE Factory watchman versions prior to 4.9.0-9.1.

Published: 2022-01-26 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-21944 is rated Moderate Risk (41.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.11%). 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-2022-21944

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 2025-11-21 0.03% 0.11% +0.08%
2 2025-11-18 0.09% 0.03% -0.06%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.09% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-21944

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: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]
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]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-21944

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-21944

vendor priority summary link
suse high CVE-2022-21944 severity important: SUSE including 4 source package names (python3-watchman-1.4.0-6.1, python3-watchman-1.4.0-bp153.2.3.1, watchman-4.9.0-6.1, watchman-4.9.0-bp153.2.3.1), 6 product×package rows across 3 product lines (SUSE Package Hub 15 SP3, openSUSE Leap 15.3, openSUSE Tumbleweed): Fixed 6. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-21944/

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21944

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
opensuse factory_watchman <= 4.9.1 cpe:2.3:a:opensuse:factory_watchman:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-21944

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1194470 Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence