Photon OsOperating system · VMware
CVE-2022-22942
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 · uneditedThe 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.
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 confidenceCVE-2022-22942 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel's vmwgfx driver (VMware Graphics). The flaw involves a dangling 'file' pointer that remains after a file is closed, allowing an unprivileged local attacker to access files that other processes have opened on the system. This bypasses normal file permission controls and can lead to complete system compromise.
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
= 3.0= 4.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the VMware Photon OS versionRun 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'photonos-version' to check the installed OS versionAffected if The version is 3.0 or 4.0 exactly (the affected versions)
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Verify if the vmwgfx kernel module is loadedRun 'lsmod | grep vmwgfx' or check /proc/modules to see if the vmwgfx driver is currently loaded in memoryAffected if The vmwgfx module is loaded and the Photon OS version is 3.0 or 4.0 (the driver must be active for the flaw to be exploitable)
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Check if the system has untrusted local usersReview /etc/passwd for local user accounts and evaluate whether any unprivileged users exist who could trigger the vulnerabilityAffected if Untrusted local users have shell access to the system (the exploit requires a local attacker)
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Confirm kernel version to assess patch statusRun 'uname -r' to obtain the kernel version, then compare against the upstream fix or vendor advisories for CVE-2022-22942Affected if The kernel version is older than the version that includes the fix for the dangling pointer vulnerability in vmwgfx
A system is affected if it runs VMware Photon OS 3.0 or 4.0 with the vmwgfx driver loaded and has untrusted local users who could exploit the dangling file pointer to escalate privileges.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataApply the upstream Linux kernel patch for vmwgfx or update to a kernel version that includes the fix. Review systems for untrusted local users as the exploit requires local access.
Fix this in Photon Os
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-22942 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-22942 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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