CVE-2022-45873

systemd 250 and 251 allows local users to achieve a systemd-coredump deadlock by triggering a crash that has a long backtrace. This occurs in parse_elf_object in shared/elf-util.c. The exploitation methodology is to crash a binary calling the same function recursively, and put it in a deeply nested directory to make its backtrace large enough to cause the deadlock. This must be done 16 times when MaxConnections=16 is set for the systemd/units/systemd-coredump.socket file.

Published: 2022-11-23 Last update: 2025-04-25 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-45873 is rated Low Risk (28/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.25%). 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-2022-45873

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 0.02% 0.25% +0.23%
2 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.02% -0.05%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-45873

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-45873

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-45873

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-45873 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-45873
gentoo normal CVE-2022-45873: 1 GLSA(s) (202405-04), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/systemd); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-45873
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-45873
suse medium CVE-2022-45873 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (libsystemd0, libsystemd0-32bit, …), 314 product×package rows across 39 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (39 product lines)): Known Not Affected 304, Fixed 10. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-45873/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-45873 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 5, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-45873

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-45873

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd >= 250, <= 251 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
systemd_project systemd 252 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:252:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
systemd_project systemd 252 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:252:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-45873

cvelogic Threat Intelligence