CVE-2022-31256 | sendmail: mail to root privilege escalation via sm-client.pre script

A Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following') vulnerability in a script called by the sendmail systemd service of openSUSE Factory allows local attackers to escalate from user mail to root. This issue affects: SUSE openSUSE Factory sendmail versions prior to 8.17.1-1.1.

Published: 2022-10-26 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-31256 is rated Moderate Risk (42.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 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-2022-31256

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 0.04% 0.14% +0.09%
2 2025-11-18 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2025-08-22 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-31256

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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.
 2.5 5.2 [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-2022-31256

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-31256

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-31256 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (sendmail), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-31256
suse high CVE-2022-31256 severity important: SUSE including 9 source package names (libmilter-doc-8.15.2-150000.8.9.1, libmilter1_0-8.15.2-150000.8.9.1, …), 48 product×package rows across 34 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (34 product lines)): Fixed 47, Known Not Affected 1. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-31256/

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-31256

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
opensuse factory < 8.17.1-1.1 cpe:2.3:a:opensuse:factory:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-31256

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1204696 Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence