dbcve.org
BiotimeApplication · Zkteco

CVE-2022-38801

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-11-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
In Zkteco BioTime < 8.5.3 Build:20200816.447, an employee can hijack an administrator session and cookies using blind cross-site scripting.

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 Zkteco BioTime versions before 8.5.3 Build:20200816.447, a blind cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists that allows low-privileged employee accounts to inject malicious scripts. These scripts execute in an administrator's browser session, enabling cookie theft and session hijacking of administrator accounts.

MitigationUpgrade to BioTime 8.5.3 or later. Additionally, implement HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies to prevent theft, and apply input validation and output encoding to mitigate XSS vulnerabilities.

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
BiotimeApplication
Affected:< 8.5.4

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 BioTime installation and version
    Locate the BioTime installation directory or check the web interface login page for version information, typically displayed in the footer or in the About section of the admin panel
    Affected if The displayed version is any version prior to 8.5.4 or the version cannot be confirmed as 8.5.4 or later
  2. Confirm the web interface is accessible
    Attempt to access the BioTime web portal via HTTP/HTTPS at the known IP or hostname of the device
    Affected if The web interface is reachable from network segments used by low-privileged employees or untrusted networks
  3. Check for low-privileged user accounts
    Log into the admin panel and navigate to User Management or Account settings to enumerate existing employee-level accounts
    Affected if There are any non-administrator user accounts configured in the system
  4. Inspect session cookie configuration
    Log in as an administrator and use browser developer tools (Application tab > Cookies) to examine session cookies for HttpOnly and Secure flags
    Affected if Session cookies lack the HttpOnly flag, making them vulnerable to theft via XSS
  5. Review input handling in user-facing fields
    As a low-privileged user, attempt to submit special characters (<, >, ") in common input fields such as user names, device labels, or shift names
    Affected if Input fields accept and reflect special characters without encoding or sanitization

You are affected if BioTime version is confirmed to be earlier than 8.5.4 AND the web interface is accessible to low-privileged users who can submit input that gets reflected without proper encoding.

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 8.5.4 or later
Fixed in 8.5.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to BioTime 8.5.3 or later. Additionally, implement HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies to prevent theft, and apply input validation and output encoding to mitigate XSS vulnerabilities.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

BioTime 8.5.4

  1. 1. Download BioTime version 8.5.4 or later from the official Zkteco website (www.zkteco.com) or your authorized distributor
  2. 2. Create a full backup of the current BioTime database and configuration files before upgrading
  3. 3. Schedule a maintenance window to minimize business impact
  4. 4. Stop the BioTime service before beginning the upgrade process
  5. 5. Install BioTime version 8.5.4 following the standard upgrade procedure documented in the user manual
  6. 6. After installation, verify the version number in the system information page
  7. 7. Test that the application functions normally and administrator sessions work properly
  8. 8. Clear all browser cookies and session data for the BioTime application as a precaution

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

Fix this in Biotime Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2022-38801 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