dbcve.org
Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2022-23645

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.5.3 / 0.6.2 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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
swtpm is a libtpms-based TPM emulator with socket, character device, and Linux CUSE interface. Versions prior to 0.5.3, 0.6.2, and 0.7.1 are vulnerable to out-of-bounds read. A specially crafted header of swtpm's state, where the blobheader's hdrsize indicator has an invalid value, may cause an out-of-bounds access when the byte array representing the state of the TPM is accessed. This will likely crash swtpm or prevent it from starting since the state cannot be understood. Users should upgrade to swtpm v0.5.3, v0.6.2, or v0.7.1 to receive a patch. There are currently no known workarounds.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-125

The code reads past the end (or before the start) of a buffer, returning memory that was never meant to be exposed. Attackers use it to leak secrets like keys or to defeat memory-protection defences. Remediation is validating indices and lengths before every read.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds read class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 35
SwtpmApplication
Affected:< 0.5.3>= 0.6.0, < 0.6.2= 0.7.0

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

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

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 0.5.3 / 0.6.2 or later
Fixed in 0.5.30.6.2
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

swtpm v0.5.3, v0.6.2, or v0.7.1 (depending on which release branch is desired)

  1. 1. Identify the current swtpm version installed on the system using: `rpm -q swtpm` or `swtpm --version`
  2. 2. For Enterprise Linux 8.0 systems: Update the package by running `sudo dnf update swtpm` or `sudo yum update swtpm` to obtain the patched version
  3. 3. For Fedora 35 systems: Update the package by running `sudo dnf update swtpm` to obtain the patched version
  4. 4. For source installations: Clone the swtpm repository and checkout the fixed tag: `git clone https://github.com/stefanberger/swtpm.git && cd swtpm && git checkout v0.5.3` (or v0.6.2 or v0.7.1)
  5. 5. Rebuild and reinstall the software following the project's build instructions
  6. 6. After upgrading, restart the swtpm service if it is running
  7. 7. Verify the new version is installed: `swtpm --version`

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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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-2022-23645 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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