CVE-2022-4904

Exp

A flaw was found in the c-ares package. The ares_set_sortlist is missing checks about the validity of the input string, which allows a possible arbitrary length stack overflow. This issue may cause a denial of service or a limited impact on confidentiality and integrity.

Published: 2023-03-06 Last update: 2025-12-02 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-4904 is rated High Exploit Risk (62.3/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.16%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2022-4904

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-4904

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 2026-03-24 0.14% 0.16% +0.02%
2 2026-02-16 0.16% 0.14% -0.02%
3 2025-12-31 — 0.16% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-4904

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 4.7 [email protected]
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 4.7 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-4904

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-4904

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2022-4904: 1 source package rows (c-ares); 5 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-4904
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-4904 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (c-ares), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-4904
gentoo normal CVE-2022-4904: 1 GLSA(s) (202401-02), 1 atom(s) (net-dns/c-ares); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-4904
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-4904
suse medium CVE-2022-4904 severity moderate: SUSE including 283 source package names (0.3.2-1.2:libcares2-1.19.0-150000.3.20.1, 0.3.32-3.4:libcares2-1.19.0-150000.3.20.1, …), 601 product×package rows across 315 product lines (Container bci/nodejs, Container caasp/v4/cilium, … (315 product lines)): Fixed 467, Known Affected 134. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-4904/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-4904 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (c-ares), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 5, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-4904

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-4904

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
c-ares_project c-ares < 1.19.0 cpe:2.3:a:c-ares_project:c-ares:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat software_collections — cpe:2.3:a:redhat:software_collections:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-4904

cvelogic Threat Intelligence