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Photon OsOperating system · VMware

CVE-2021-22055

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2022-02-16 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The SchedulerServer in Vmware photon allows remote attackers to inject logs through \r in the package parameter. Attackers can also insert malicious data and fake entries.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

VMware Photon SchedulerServer is vulnerable to log injection via the package parameter. Attackers can inject carriage return (`\r`) characters to manipulate log entries, insert malicious data, and create fake log entries. This is a CRLF injection vulnerability in the logging mechanism.

MitigationImplement strict input validation to filter or escape special characters (`\r`, `\n`) in the package parameter before logging. Treat all user-controlled input as untrusted data and ensure logging functions properly handle these characters to prevent log forging.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Photon OsOperating system
Affected:< 2022-02-16

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Photon OS installation
    Check if the system is running VMware Photon OS by examining /etc/os-release or running 'cat /etc/photon-release'
    Affected if The system is not running VMware Photon OS (this CVE only affects Photon OS)
  2. Determine Photon OS version
    Run 'photonos-release' or check the version field in /etc/os-release to get the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version was released before 2022-02-16 (any version prior to that date is affected)
  3. Locate SchedulerServer logs
    Check for SchedulerServer logs in standard logging directories such as /var/log/scheduler/ or search for logs containing 'SchedulerServer' entries using 'find /var/log -name *scheduler*'
    Affected if SchedulerServer logs exist and the service is in use on the system
  4. Inspect logs for CRLF injection artifacts
    Examine SchedulerServer logs for unusual line patterns, duplicate timestamps, or log entries that appear to be injected. Use 'grep -r $'\r$'' or hexdump to look for carriage return characters in log files
    Affected if Log files contain unexpected entries, duplicate timestamps, or visible \r characters indicating log injection has occurred

A system is affected if it runs VMware Photon OS with a version released before 2022-02-16 and has the SchedulerServer component active, with evidence of CRLF injection in its logs.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2022-02-16 or later
Fixed in 2022-02-16
Interim mitigation

Implement strict input validation to filter or escape special characters (`\r`, `\n`) in the package parameter before logging. Treat all user-controlled input as untrusted data and ensure logging functions properly handle these characters to prevent log forging.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Photon OS 2022-02-16 or later release

  1. 1. Backup all critical data and configurations on the Photon OS system
  2. 2. Update the Photon OS package repository metadata: tdnf clean all && tdnf makecache
  3. 3. Perform a system update to install the latest packages: tdnf update -y
  4. 4. Verify the kernel and system packages have been updated: uname -a and tdnf list updates
  5. 5. Reboot the system to ensure all updated components are running: reboot
  6. 6. Confirm the version is 2022-02-16 or later: cat /etc/os-release
Caveat Standard upgrade - review release notes for any configuration changes in Photon OS

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Photon Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,820
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-22055 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data