CVE-2022-22942
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2022-22942 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the vmwgfx driver that allows unprivileged local users to access files opened by other processes through a dangling file pointer. This affects systems running VMware Photon OS with vulnerable versions of the vmwgfx driver. Attackers can potentially read sensitive data from other processes.
💻 Affected Systems
- VMware Photon OS
📦 What is this software?
Photon Os by Vmware
Photon Os by Vmware
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker gains full system access by reading sensitive files like /etc/shadow or process memory, leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
Local users access sensitive files from other processes, potentially exposing credentials, configuration files, or other confidential data.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and patching, impact is limited to denial of service or minimal information disclosure.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires local access and knowledge of the dangling pointer condition. Public exploit details are available in security advisories.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Photon OS 3.0-356 and 4.0-148
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-3.0-356
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Photon OS using 'tdnf update'. 2. Apply security updates for vmwgfx driver. 3. Reboot the system to load the patched driver.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vmwgfx driver
linuxRemove or blacklist the vulnerable driver module
echo 'blacklist vmwgfx' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
rmmod vmwgfx
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict local user access to affected systems
- Implement strict file permissions and access controls
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Photon OS version with 'cat /etc/photon-release' and verify if below 3.0-356 or 4.0-148Check Version:
cat /etc/photon-releaseVerify Fix Applied:
Verify kernel module version with 'modinfo vmwgfx | grep version' and check for updated driver📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Kernel logs showing vmwgfx driver errors
- Unauthorized file access attempts in audit logs
Network Indicators:
- None - local exploitation only
SIEM Query:
Search for 'vmwgfx' in kernel logs or module loading events🔗 References
- https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-3.0-356
- https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-4.0-148
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/27/4
- https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-3.0-356
- https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-4.0-148
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/27/4
