dbcve.org
Powervm HypervisorOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2022-22445

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
An attacker that gains service access to the FSP (POWER9 only) or gains admin authority to a partition can compromise partition firmware.

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

On POWER9 systems, an attacker with service access to the FSP (Field Support Program) or with administrator authority over a partition can compromise the partition's firmware. This represents a privilege escalation allowing firmware-level compromise of affected partitions.

MitigationRestrict FSP service access to trusted personnel only and enforce strict partition administrator access controls. Apply vendor firmware updates for POWER9 when available.

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
Powervm HypervisorOperating system
Affected:>= fw950, < fw950.40>= fw1010, < fw1010.32

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 POWER9 system hardware
    Run `lsprop -r /proc/device-tree/model` or `lscpu | grep -i power` to confirm the system uses POWER9 processor architecture
    Affected if The system is not POWER9 hardware (this vulnerability only affects POWER9 systems)
  2. Confirm PowerVM hypervisor is in use
    Run `lsvpt` or check for PowerVM-specific indicators such as the presence of PowerVM-related processes or the output of `lsattr -El proc0` showing hypervisor mode
    Affected if The system does not run IBM PowerVM Hypervisor (other hypervisors or bare-metal are not affected)
  3. Retrieve the system firmware (FSP/OPAL) version
    Run `lsmcode -a` or `lsmcode` to display the current firmware level, or use the HMC interface to view the managed system firmware version
    Affected if Unable to retrieve firmware version (firmware version cannot be determined)
  4. Compare firmware version against affected ranges
    Review the firmware version output from step 3 and compare numerically: the affected ranges are fw950 through fw950.39 (inclusive), and fw1010 through fw1010.31 (inclusive)
    Affected if Firmware version is >= fw950 AND < fw950.40, OR >= fw1010 AND < fw1010.32 (system falls within an affected version range)

A system is affected if it is a POWER9 system running IBM PowerVM Hypervisor with firmware version fw950.0 through fw950.39 or fw1010.0 through fw1010.31.

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

Restrict FSP service access to trusted personnel only and enforce strict partition administrator access controls. Apply vendor firmware updates for POWER9 when available.

Recommended fix High confidence

PowerVM firmware fw950.40 or later, or fw1010.32 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current PowerVM firmware version by accessing the FSP (Flexible Service Processor) or through the HMC (Hardware Management Console)
  2. 2. Determine which firmware stream applies to your system (fw950 or fw1010)
  3. 3. Download the fixed firmware image (fw950.40 or higher, or fw1010.32 or higher) from IBM Fix Central or the IBM Support Portal
  4. 4. Schedule a maintenance window as firmware updates may require system downtime
  5. 5. Apply the firmware update through the FSP or HMC using the appropriate firmware update procedure
  6. 6. Verify the firmware has been successfully updated to the fixed version
  7. 7. Confirm the vulnerability is remediated by checking the firmware level
Caveat Firmware updates may require system downtime and should be planned during maintenance windows; ensure proper backup and rollback procedures are in place

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

Fix this in Powervm Hypervisor Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2022-22445 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