WolfsslApplication

CVE-2022-42905

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-11-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.5.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges 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
In wolfSSL before 5.5.2, if callback functions are enabled (via the WOLFSSL_CALLBACKS flag), then a malicious TLS 1.3 client or network attacker can trigger a buffer over-read on the heap of 5 bytes. (WOLFSSL_CALLBACKS is only intended for debugging.)

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-125

The code reads past the end (or before the start) of a buffer, returning memory that was never meant to be exposed. Attackers use it to leak secrets like keys or to defeat memory-protection defences. Remediation is validating indices and lengths before every read.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds read class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
WolfsslApplication
Affected:< 5.5.2

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

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 5.5.2 or later
Fixed in 5.5.2
Recommended fix High confidence

WolfSSL 5.5.2

  1. 1. Identify whether your WolfSSL build has WOLFSSL_CALLBACKS enabled by checking build configuration files or compile-time flags
  2. 2. If WOLFSSL_CALLBACKS is enabled, review if it is actually needed - this flag is intended only for debugging and should not be used in production
  3. 3. Upgrade WolfSSL to version 5.5.2 or later from the official WolfSSL repository (github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssl)
  4. 4. After upgrading, rebuild your application with the new WolfSSL library
  5. 5. If you were using WOLFSSL_CALLBACKS for debugging purposes, remove that flag from your build configuration in favor of other debugging methods
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the wolfSSL version at runtime
Caveat WOLFSSL_CALLBACKS flag was used for debugging and should not be enabled in production; upgrading removes this feature entirely in favor of other debugging mechanisms

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,550. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2022-42905 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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