CVE-2022-4170

The rxvt-unicode package is vulnerable to a remote code execution, in the Perl background extension, when an attacker can control the data written to the user's terminal and certain options are set.

Published: 2022-12-09 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-4170 is rated High Risk (65.5/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.06%). High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2022-4170

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 3.36% 2.06% -1.31%
2 2026-05-18 2.99% 3.36% +0.38%
3 2026-04-29 — 2.99% —

Full EPSS history (25 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-4170

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-4170

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-4170

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2022-4170: 1 source package rows (rxvt-unicode); 8 state rows across 6 repos (3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 2. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-4170
debian unimportant CVE-2022-4170 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (rxvt-unicode), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-4170
gentoo high CVE-2022-4170: 1 GLSA(s) (202310-20), 1 atom(s) (x11-terms/rxvt-unicode); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-4170
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-4170 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (rxvt-unicode), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 7, ignored 6. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-4170

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-4170

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
rxvt-unicode_project rxvt-unicode 9.25 cpe:2.3:a:rxvt-unicode_project:rxvt-unicode:9.25:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rxvt-unicode_project rxvt-unicode 9.26 cpe:2.3:a:rxvt-unicode_project:rxvt-unicode:9.26:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject extra_packages_for_enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:a:fedoraproject:extra_packages_for_enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-4170

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2151597 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202310-20 Third Party Advisory
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/12/05/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence