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Node.jsApplication

CVE-2022-32223

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.20.0 / 16.16.0 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Node.js is vulnerable to Hijack Execution Flow: DLL Hijacking under certain conditions on Windows platforms.This vulnerability can be exploited if the victim has the following dependencies on a Windows machine:* OpenSSL has been installed and “C:\Program Files\Common Files\SSL\openssl.cnf” exists.Whenever the above conditions are present, `node.exe` will search for `providers.dll` in the current user directory.After that, `node.exe` will try to search for `providers.dll` by the DLL Search Order in Windows.It is possible for an attacker to place the malicious file `providers.dll` under a variety of paths and exploit this vulnerability.

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-427

The program loads a library or executable from a location an attacker can influence — a writable directory early in the search order — so a malicious file is loaded with the application's privileges. On Windows this is the classic DLL-hijack. Remediation is loading only from fully-qualified trusted paths and controlling the search order explicitly.

General guidance for the uncontrolled search path (dll hijack) 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
Node.jsApplication
Affected:>= 14.0.0, <= 14.14.0>= 14.14.0, < 14.20.0>= 16.0.0, <= 16.12.0>= 16.13.0, < 16.16.0>= 18.0.0, < 18.0.5

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 14.20.0 / 16.16.0 / 18.0.5 or later
Fixed in 14.20.016.16.018.0.5
Vendor patch nodejs.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Node.js 14.20.0+ (14.x LTS) or Node.js 16.16.0+ (16.x LTS)

  1. 1. Identify the current Node.js version by running `node --version`
  2. 2. If running Node.js 14.x (versions 14.0.0 to 14.19.x), upgrade to version 14.20.0 or later
  3. 3. If running Node.js 16.x (versions 16.0.0 to 16.15.x), upgrade to version 16.16.0 or later
  4. 4. Download the appropriate LTS version from the official Node.js website (https://nodejs.org/) or use a version manager like nvm
  5. 5. Install the new version and verify the upgrade with `node --version`
  6. 6. Test your applications to ensure compatibility with the new Node.js version
Caveat Minor version upgrades may introduce breaking changes; review the Node.js release notes for any API changes and test in a non-production environment before deploying

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 $1,950. 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-2022-32223 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
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