CVE-2022-39388 | Istio may allow identity impersonation if user has localhost access

Istio is an open platform to connect, manage, and secure microservices. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.3, a user can impersonate any workload identity within the service mesh if they have localhost access to the Istiod control plane. Version 1.15.3 contains a patch for this issue. There are no known workarounds.

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

CVE-2022-39388 is rated Low Risk (37.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). 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-2022-39388

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 2025-11-18 0.20% 0.09% -0.11%
2 2025-11-14 0.08% 0.20% +0.12%
3 2025-11-13 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-39388

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:A)
Attacker has to be nearby on the network—same office, same link, that vibe—not the whole wide internet.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.3 4.7 [email protected]
3.5 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:A)
Attacker has to be nearby on the network—same office, same link, that vibe—not the whole wide internet.
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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.1 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-39388

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-39388

GHSA-6c6p-h79f-g6p4 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Istio may allow identity impersonation if user has localhost access

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-39388

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
istio istio >= 1.15.0, <= 1.15.2 cpe:2.3:a:istio:istio:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-39388

cvelogic Threat Intelligence