dbcve.org
Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2022-1665

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-06-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A set of pre-production kernel packages of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM Power architecture can be booted by the grub in Secure Boot mode even though it shouldn't. These kernel builds don't have the secure boot lockdown patches applied to it and can bypass the secure boot validations, allowing the attacker to load another non-trusted code.

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 · moderate confidence

Pre-production RHEL kernel packages for IBM Power architecture can bypass Secure Boot validation because they lack secure boot lockdown patches. These vulnerable kernels can be booted by GRUB in Secure Boot mode when they shouldn't be, allowing attackers to load unsigned or malicious code.

MitigationDeploy properly signed production kernels with secure boot lockdown patches applied, and update to the latest Red Hat kernel versions that include the fix.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 system architecture
    Run 'uname -m' or check /proc/cpuinfo for 'ppc64le' to confirm IBM Power architecture
    Affected if System is NOT IBM Power (ppc64le) architecture - this CVE only affects IBM Power systems
  2. Confirm RHEL version
    Check /etc/redhat-release or run 'cat /etc/os-release' to verify RHEL 8.0
    Affected if Running a version other than RHEL 8.0 - only RHEL 8.0 is listed as affected
  3. Check Secure Boot status
    Run 'mokutil --sb-state' or check firmware/UEFI settings to determine if Secure Boot is enabled
    Affected if Secure Boot is DISABLED - the vulnerability only applies when Secure Boot is active
  4. Identify kernel package version
    Run 'rpm -q kernel' to list installed kernel packages and check if they are pre-production or testing kernels (such as kernel-4.18.0-*.el8 or variants marked as pre-release)
    Affected if Kernel version is a pre-production/testing build lacking secure boot lockdown patches
  5. Verify secure boot lockdown status
    Check /sys/kernel/security/lockdown/status or run 'cat /proc/cmdline' for 'lockdown=...' parameter to see if kernel lockdown is active
    Affected if Kernel lockdown is NOT enforced - indicates missing secure boot lockdown patches

System is affected only if it is IBM Power architecture running RHEL 8.0 with Secure Boot enabled and a pre-production kernel lacking secure boot lockdown patches.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Deploy properly signed production kernels with secure boot lockdown patches applied, and update to the latest Red Hat kernel versions that include the fix.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 latest kernel update (including secure boot lockdown patches for IBM Power)

  1. 1. Ensure the system is registered with Red Hat Subscription Management or a Satellite server
  2. 2. Run 'yum update' or 'dnf update' to fetch the latest available kernel packages
  3. 3. The updated kernel packages will include the secure boot lockdown patches that were missing from the pre-production builds
  4. 4. After updating, reboot the system to load the new kernel
  5. 5. Verify Secure Boot is functioning correctly by checking the boot logs and ensuring the lockdown patches are active
Caveat Standard kernel update - should not cause breaking changes but always test in a staging environment first

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2022-1665 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