CVE-2022-38193
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 · uneditedThere is a code injection vulnerability in Esri Portal for ArcGIS versions 10.8.1 and below that may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to pass strings which could potentially cause arbitrary code execution.
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 confidenceThis is a code injection vulnerability in Esri Portal for ArcGIS versions 10.8.1 and below. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can pass malicious strings to the application that may result in arbitrary code execution on the underlying system. The critical severity (CVSS 9.6) reflects the ability for unauthenticated remote attackers to achieve code execution without any credentials.
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<= 10.8.1CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Esri Portal for ArcGIS is installedCheck for the presence of the Portal for ArcGIS installation directory, typically found at C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Portal or /opt/arcgis/portal on Linux systems. On Windows, also verify the 'ArcGIS Portal' Windows service exists via Services.msc.Affected if The software is present on the system.
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Determine the installed Portal for ArcGIS versionNavigate to the Portal installation directory and locate the version info. Alternatively, access the Portal Administrator Directory at https://localhost:7443/arcgis/portal/admin/info and look for the 'portalVersion' field in the returned JSON, or check the 'about' page in the Portal web interface.Affected if The version returned is 10.8.1 or lower.
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Verify the Portal web interface is network-accessibleConfirm the Portal web application is running and accessible. Check if ports 7443 (HTTPS) or 7080 (HTTP) are listening on the server using 'netstat -an | findstr 7443' on Windows or 'netstat -tuln | grep 7443' on Linux. Attempt to reach the Portal URL from an external host if network exposure is suspected.Affected if The Portal interface is exposed to untrusted networks.
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Check for signs of the code injection vulnerabilityReview web server logs (IIS or Tomcat logs located in the Portal logs directory) for suspicious request patterns containing unexpected shell metacharacters or encoded commands in URL parameters. Look for entries matching patterns like ';', '|', '&&', or backtick commands in requests to Portal endpoints.Affected if Suspicious injection patterns appear in web access logs targeting the Portal endpoints.
You are affected if Esri Portal for ArcGIS is installed and the version is 10.8.1 or lower, particularly if the web interface is network-accessible.
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 dataUpgrade Esri Portal for ArcGIS to a version above 10.8.1 (or apply the relevant vendor patch). If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network exposure of the Portal interface and implement WAF rules to detect and block injection attempts.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-38193 — 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-2022-38193 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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- 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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