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Xg Firewall FirmwareOperating system · Sophos

CVE-2022-3696

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-12-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 19.0 or later.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
A post-auth code injection vulnerability allows admins to execute code in Webadmin of Sophos Firewall releases older than version 19.5 GA.

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 confidence

A post-authentication code injection vulnerability exists in the Webadmin interface of Sophos Firewall. Authenticated administrators can inject and execute arbitrary code due to insufficient input validation. This affects all Sophos Firewall releases prior to version 19.5 GA.

MitigationUpgrade Sophos Firewall to version 19.5 GA or later to remediate this vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict Webadmin access to trusted management networks and enforce strong admin credential policies.

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
Xg Firewall FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= 19.0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Webadmin interface is enabled
    Log into the Sophos XG Firewall admin console or check the system configuration to confirm whether the Webadmin service (web-based management interface) is currently enabled on the device.
    Affected if The Webadmin interface is enabled and accessible (this is required for the vulnerability to be exploitable).
  2. Determine the installed firmware version
    Access the Sophos XG Firewall dashboard or use the system status command to retrieve the current firmware version. Look for a version number in the format such as 19.0.x or similar.
    Affected if The installed firmware version is 19.0 or any version prior to 19.5 GA.
  3. Check Webadmin network exposure
    Review the network configuration to determine if the Webadmin interface is bound to external IPs, WAN interfaces, or is accessible from untrusted networks. Verify the listening interfaces in the firewall rules or service configuration.
    Affected if Webadmin is bound to WAN/external interfaces or is accessible from untrusted networks (increases exposure risk).
  4. Confirm administrator account access
    Review the list of administrator accounts configured on the Sophos XG Firewall. Identify whether there are any admin accounts with privileges to access the Webadmin interface.
    Affected if There are administrator accounts configured for the Webadmin interface (post-authentication is required for exploitation).

If the Sophos XG Firewall is running firmware version 19.0 or lower AND has the Webadmin interface enabled and accessible, the environment is affected by CVE-2022-3696.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 19.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Sophos Firewall to version 19.5 GA or later to remediate this vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict Webadmin access to trusted management networks and enforce strong admin credential policies.

Recommended fix High confidence

Sophos XG Firewall version 19.5 GA or later

  1. Download Sophos XG Firewall firmware version 19.5 GA or later from the official Sophos download portal
  2. Back up the current firewall configuration from the Webadmin interface under Backup & Firmware > Backup
  3. Navigate to Backup & Firmware > Firmware in the Webadmin interface
  4. Upload the downloaded firmware file (version 19.5 or later)
  5. Initiate the firmware upgrade and wait for the process to complete
  6. After the firewall reboots, verify the new firmware version is displayed in the Webadmin dashboard
  7. Log back into Webadmin and confirm all services are running normally

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

Fix this in Xg Firewall Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,120
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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-2022-3696 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data