CVE-2022-22942

The vmwgfx driver contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows unprivileged users to gain access to files opened by other processes on the system through a dangling 'file' pointer.

Published: 2023-12-13 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-22942 is rated Moderate Risk (55.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.56%). 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-2022-22942

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 13.53% 2.56% -10.98%
2 2026-02-28 13.10% 13.53% +0.43%
3 2025-11-21 — 13.10% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-22942

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-22942

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-22942

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-22942 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-22942
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-22942
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-22942/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-22942 medium priority: Ubuntu including 167 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner, …), 2042 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1576, released 210, not-affected 201, ignored 55. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-22942

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-22942

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware photon_os 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:photon_os:3.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware photon_os 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:photon_os:4.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-22942

cvelogic Threat Intelligence