CVE-2022-35488
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 · uneditedIn Zammad 5.2.0, an attacker could manipulate the rate limiting in the 'forgot password' feature of Zammad, and thereby send many requests for a known account to cause Denial Of Service by many generated emails which would also spam the victim.
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 confidenceZammad 5.2.0 has a bypassable rate limit in the password reset feature that allows unlimited password reset requests for a targeted account, enabling attackers to flood the victim with reset emails and cause resource exhaustion.
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= 5.2.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 installed Zammad versionRun command: zammad version or check the web interface under Admin > System > Information to view the version numberAffected if The installed version is exactly 5.2.0 (this vulnerability affects only this specific version)
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Verify the password reset endpoint is accessibleNavigate to the login page and locate the 'Forgot Password?' or 'Reset password' link. Confirm it loads the password reset form at /password_reset or similar endpointAffected if The password reset form is accessible and functional without any rate limiting restrictions visible
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Test for rate limiting on password reset requestsSubmit multiple password reset requests for the same email address (use a test account) and observe whether requests are blocked, throttled, or allowed without restrictionAffected if Requests are not blocked or throttled after multiple submissions - the rate limit is bypassable or missing
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Review authentication logs for password reset abuseCheck Zammad logs in /var/log/zammad or via Admin > Logs > Audit Log for repeated password reset entries for specific accountsAffected if Logs show an unusually high number of password reset requests for any single account indicating potential abuse
You are affected if Zammad version 5.2.0 is installed AND the password reset endpoint accepts unlimited requests without rate limiting or throttling.
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 dataImplement strict per-account rate limiting on the forgot password endpoint, potentially combined with CAPTCHA or account lockout thresholds, to prevent abuse.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-35488 — 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-2022-35488 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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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.
- 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