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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 20 Apr 2023.
Cobalt StrikeApplication · Helpsystems

CVE-2022-39197

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.7.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges

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
An XSS (Cross Site Scripting) vulnerability was found in HelpSystems Cobalt Strike through 4.7 that allowed a remote attacker to execute HTML on the Cobalt Strike teamserver. To exploit the vulnerability, one must first inspect a Cobalt Strike payload, and then modify the username field in the payload (or create a new payload with the extracted information and then modify that username field to be malformed).

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 Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in HelpSystems Cobalt Strike through version 4.7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary HTML on the teamserver by manipulating the username field in a Cobalt Strike payload. The attack requires first inspecting an existing payload or extracting its information, then modifying the username field to contain malformed data that gets rendered as executable HTML.

MitigationUpgrade Cobalt Strike to version 4.8 or later where the vendor has patched the XSS vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement network segmentation to limit teamserver exposure and monitor for anomalous payload modifications.

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
Cobalt StrikeApplication
Affected:< 4.7.1

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Cobalt Strike teamserver version
    Locate the teamserver script (teamserver) or the teamserver JAR file. Open the teamserver script and look for version strings in comments or the main function. Alternatively, run 'java -jar teamserver.jar --version' if supported, or inspect the JAR file metadata for version information.
    Affected if The installed version is 4.7 or any version below 4.7.1
  2. Confirm teamserver is actively running
    Check for running Java processes that match the Cobalt Strike teamserver command line, or check system monitoring tools for listening ports (default 50050) used by Cobalt Strike.
    Affected if The teamserver is running and processing beacon connections from any source
  3. Review teamserver logs for XSS indicators
    Examine the teamserver logs (typically output to console or redirected to a log file) for any entries containing HTML tags, script tags, or unusual URL-encoded characters in what should be username or metadata fields.
    Affected if Logs contain raw HTML/script tags or anomalous character sequences in payload metadata fields
  4. Audit payload processing configuration
    Inspect the teamserver configuration or any custom scripts that handle incoming beacon registrations. Look for whether input validation or sanitization is performed on the username/metadata fields before processing.
    Affected if No input validation is performed on username fields from incoming beacons

You are affected if your Cobalt Strike teamserver version is 4.7 or below (not yet upgraded to 4.7.1) and the teamserver is actively processing beacon connections.

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 4.7.1 or later
Fixed in 4.7.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Cobalt Strike to version 4.8 or later where the vendor has patched the XSS vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement network segmentation to limit teamserver exposure and monitor for anomalous payload modifications.

Recommended fix High confidence

Cobalt Strike 4.7.1

  1. 1. Download Cobalt Strike version 4.7.1 or later from the official Cobalt Strike website (www.cobaltstrike.com)
  2. 2. Back up your existing Cobalt Strike teamserver configuration, scripts, and data
  3. 3. Stop the running Cobalt Strike teamserver if it is currently active
  4. 4. Install or replace the Cobalt Strike files with version 4.7.1 or later
  5. 5. Restart the Cobalt Strike teamserver and verify it starts successfully
  6. 6. Regenerate any existing payloads to ensure they do not contain maliciously modified username fields

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

Fix this in Cobalt Strike Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

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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-2022-39197 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