CVE-2022-22942: vmware photon_os Use After Free
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2022-22942 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in vmware photon_os. EPSS estimates a 2.56% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 85.1% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.
Weaponized exploit (Metasploit, 28-01-2022)
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 61 · Related 35Timeline
- 13-12-2023PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 03-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
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.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 4 sources · 1 version- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- NVDNIST7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
2.56%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
85%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 2.56% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
1 foundvmwgfx Driver File Descriptor Handling Priv Esc
exploit/linux/local/vmwgfx_fd_priv_esc
Maturity: weaponized
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu67 products
- linux< 4.15.0-169.177 | < 5.4.0-100.113
- linux-aws< 4.15.0-1121.129 | < 5.4.0-1066.69
- linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.13< 5.13.0-1014.15~20.04.1
Debian1 product
- linux< 5.15.15-2
Vmware1 product
- photon_osEOL3.0 | 4.0
3 vendors · 69 products
