Cva6Application · Openhwgroup

CVE-2022-33023

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-06-29
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
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
CVA6 commit 909d85a gives incorrect permission to use special multiplication units when the format of instructions is wrong.

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

In CVA6 RISC-V processor core, commit 909d85a introduces a vulnerability where incorrect instruction format handling allows improper permission to access special multiplication units. This could enable unauthorized or incorrect use of hardware multiplication resources when malformed instructions are processed.

MitigationApply the fix from a subsequent commit that corrects the instruction format validation logic for multiplication unit permissions, or revert to a version before commit 909d85a if a fix is unavailable.

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
Cva6Application
Affected:all versions

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 CVA6 git commit version
    Run 'git log --oneline -1' or 'git rev-parse HEAD' in the CVA6 source directory to get the current commit hash
    Affected if The commit hash is after 909d85a (vulnerable) and does not include the fix from subsequent commits
  2. Check for vulnerable instruction format code
    Search the codebase for the multiplication unit permission logic - look for files handling instruction format validation for hardware multiply units (typically in decode/ISS modules)
    Affected if The code contains the flawed instruction format validation introduced in commit 909d85a without the correction
  3. Verify multiplication unit access controls
    Review the RTL or simulation logs for any multiplication unit access patterns - check if malformed instructions can trigger unauthorized multiply unit access
    Affected if Malformed instructions can bypass permission checks for special multiplication units

A system is affected if the CVA6 core is running code based on a commit after 909d85a without the subsequent fix that corrects the instruction format validation logic for multiplication unit permissions.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the fix from a subsequent commit that corrects the instruction format validation logic for multiplication unit permissions, or revert to a version before commit 909d85a if a fix is unavailable.

Fix this in Cva6 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
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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-2022-33023 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
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