CVE-2022-23532 | neo4j-apoc-procedures is vulnerable to path traversal

APOC (Awesome Procedures on Cypher) is an add-on library for Neo4j that provides hundreds of procedures and functions. A path traversal vulnerability found in the apoc.export.* procedures of apoc plugins in Neo4j Graph database. The issue allows a malicious actor to potentially break out of the expected directory. The vulnerability is such that files could only be created but not overwritten. For the vulnerability to be exploited, an attacker would need access to execute an arbitrary query, either by having access to an authenticated Neo4j client, or a Cypher injection vulnerability in an application. The minimum versions containing patch for this vulnerability are 4.4.0.12 and 4.3.0.12 and 5.3.1. As a workaround, you can control the allowlist of the procedures that can be used in your system, and/or turn off local file access by setting apoc.export.file.enabled=false.

Published: 2023-01-14 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-23532 is rated Moderate Risk (49.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.37%). 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-2022-23532

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 2026-01-15 0.10% 0.37% +0.27%
2 2025-11-21 0.37% 0.10% -0.27%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.37% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-23532

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.8 4.7 [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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-23532

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-23532

GHSA-5v8v-gwmw-qw97 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — org.neo4j.procedure:apoc Path Traversal Vulnerability

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-23532

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
neo4j awesome_procedures_on_cyper < 4.3.0.12 cpe:2.3:a:neo4j:awesome_procedures_on_cyper:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
neo4j awesome_procedures_on_cyper >= 4.4.0.0, < 4.4.0.12 cpe:2.3:a:neo4j:awesome_procedures_on_cyper:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
neo4j awesome_procedures_on_cyper 5.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:neo4j:awesome_procedures_on_cyper:5.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-23532

cvelogic Threat Intelligence