The vmwgfx driver contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows unprivileged users to gain access to files opened by other processes on the system through a dangling 'file' pointer.
CVE-2022-22942
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2023-12-13. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.
- Public exploit code is available (Metasploit)
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 7.8HIGHmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 61EG Risk 61/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity78% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation65% × 40%EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 2 (Weaponized): a constant, not a probability.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 2.6%
- EPSS %ILE
- 84th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (7.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 7.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 2.6% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-20). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
December 13, 2023
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
Advisory Details (3)
Auto-updated Oct 11, 2026oss-security - CVE-2022-22942: Linux kernel: wrong file descriptor handling in the vmwgfx driver
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/27/4Security Update 4.0 148 · vmware/photon Wiki · GitHub
https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-4.0-148Security Update 3.0 356 · vmware/photon Wiki · GitHub
https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-3.0-356Vendor Advisories for CVE-2022-22942(20)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2022:1373Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kpatch-patch security update
- RHSA-2022:1324Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2022:1263Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: RHV-H security update (redhat-virtualization-host) 4.3.22
- RHSA-2022:1107Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security update
- RHSA-2022:1103Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kpatch-patch security update
- RHSA-2022:0958Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kpatch-patch-4_18_0-147_58_1 security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2022:0925Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kpatch-patch security update
- RHSA-2022:0849Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kpatch-patch security update
- +12 more
Patch Availability(22)
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:10(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 4.19.118-1 ... 4.19.98-1~bpo9+1 (36 versions) |
| — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 5.10.46-4 ... 5.10.92-1~bpo10+1 (7 versions) |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux-4.19 | 4.19.132-1~deb9u1 ... 4.19.208-1~deb9u1 (10 versions) |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(5)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 11× in last 7d / 33× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 94 of 184 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 6 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 90 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-23 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-22 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-21 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-21 07:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 07:58 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-21 07:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-r3gf-pg53-xqph · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-20 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-19 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-18 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-18 08:43 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-16 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-15 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-14 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-13 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-12 19:00 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-12 10:54 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-11 23:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-10 19:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-09 20:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-08 16:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-06 15:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
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- 2026-10-05 17:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-10-03 14:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-30 15:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-30 15:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-29 15:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-28 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-27 13:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-26 00:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-23 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-22 13:45 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-20 20:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-17 19:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-16 14:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-15 03:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-13 16:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-12 14:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-11 14:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-11 09:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-08 21:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-07 15:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-05 15:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-04 13:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-04 05:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-03 10:30 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-02 14:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-09-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-30 19:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-30 01:19 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-28 21:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-27 14:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-26 14:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-24 14:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-21 23:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 84th percentile
- 2026-08-20 22:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-19 17:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-18 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-17 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-16 23:56 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-16 14:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-15 01:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-13 21:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-08 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-07 16:24 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-05 19:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-04 10:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-03 10:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-02 02:24 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-08-01 18:06 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-01 04:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-30 16:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-30 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-28 15:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-26 14:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-25 14:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-24 14:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-23 02:08 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:55 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-20 17:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-19 02:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
- 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 2.6% · 83rd percentile
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Metasploit module). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Metasploitexploit/linux/local/vmwgfx_fd_priv_esc✓ verifiedPublished Jan 31, 2023
vmwgfx Driver File Descriptor Handling Priv Esc
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same product + same vendor + same CWE)
Same product
10 shownDebian:9:linux-4.19
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- CVE-2020-29569EG 8.8HIGH
Same vendor
10 shownredhat:RHSA-2022:0592 · redhat:RHSA-2022:0820 · redhat:RHSA-2022:0819
- CVE-2022-0330EG 7.8HIGH
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- CVE-2022-0492NVD 7.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p93CRITICAL
- CVE-2021-4028EG 7.8HIGH
- CVE-2022-0435EG 8.9EPSS p99HIGH
- CVE-2022-0847NVD 7.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p100CRITICAL
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- CVE-2021-39685EG 7.8HIGH
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-416
- CVE-2022-2585EG 5.3MEDIUM
- CVE-2022-2586NVD 7.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p96CRITICAL
- CVE-2022-2588EG 7.8EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2022-2602EG 7.0HIGH
- CVE-2022-23090EG 7.7HIGH
- CVE-2022-22630EG 9.8CRITICAL
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- CVE-2022-26485NVD 8.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p97CRITICAL
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2022-22942?
When was CVE-2022-22942 made public?
Is CVE-2022-22942 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2022-22942?
How do I remediate CVE-2022-22942?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2022-22942
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2022-22942?
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