dbcve.org
RangerApplication · Apache

CVE-2022-45048

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Authenticated users with appropriate privileges can create policies having expressions that can exploit code execution vulnerability. This issue affects Apache Ranger: 2.3.0. Users are recommended to update to version 2.4.0.

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

Apache Ranger 2.3.0 contains a code execution vulnerability where authenticated users with policy creation privileges can inject malicious expressions into policies that get evaluated with elevated privileges. This appears to be an expression language injection flaw in the policy engine.

MitigationUpgrade to Apache Ranger 2.4.0. Until then, restrict policy creation privileges to only absolutely necessary users and monitor for unauthorized policy 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
RangerApplication
Affected:= 2.3.0

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Identify Apache Ranger version
    Check the Ranger admin UI version page, or query the REST API endpoint /service/public/v2/api/version, or inspect the ranger-admin installed WAR file version
    Affected if Version is exactly 2.3.0
  2. Audit policy creation privileges
    Review Ranger user/group role assignments in the Users/Groups section of the admin UI, or query the REST API endpoint /service/public/v2/api/users to identify which non-admin users have the 'policy-create' or 'delegate-admin' role permissions
    Affected if Any authenticated user other than the administrator has policy creation or policy delegate privileges
  3. Inspect policies for expression injection patterns
    List all resource policies via the UI or REST API endpoint /service/public/v2/api/service/{servicename}/policy, and examine policy conditions, access types, or resource matching rules for suspicious EL expressions such as ${, #{}, or method calls like getClass(), Runtime.exec()
    Affected if Any policy contains dynamic expression language syntax in policy conditions, deny conditions, or data mask/row filter definitions
  4. Review audit logs for policy modifications
    Examine Ranger audit logs or the 'Audit' tab in the UI, filtering for events of type 'CreatePolicy' or 'UpdatePolicy', and look for policy changes made by non-admin users that include expression-like content
    Affected if Audit logs show policy creations or modifications containing expression syntax by users without administrator roles

Environment is affected if running Apache Ranger version 2.3.0 AND any non-admin user has policy creation privileges AND malicious expressions have been injected into policies

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to Apache Ranger 2.4.0. Until then, restrict policy creation privileges to only absolutely necessary users and monitor for unauthorized policy modifications.

Recommended fix High confidence

2.4.0

  1. Download Apache Ranger 2.4.0 from the official Apache Ranger repository or distribution mirrors
  2. Follow the standard Apache Ranger upgrade documentation for your deployment method
  3. Ensure backup of existing Ranger configuration and database before upgrading
  4. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment before deploying to production

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

Fix this in Ranger Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-45048 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2022-45048 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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