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H2Application · H2database

CVE-2022-45868

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-11-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.1.214 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

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
The web-based admin console in H2 Database Engine before 2.2.220 can be started via the CLI with the argument -webAdminPassword, which allows the user to specify the password in cleartext for the web admin console. Consequently, a local user (or an attacker that has obtained local access through some means) would be able to discover the password by listing processes and their arguments. NOTE: the vendor states "This is not a vulnerability of H2 Console ... Passwords should never be passed on the command line and every qualified DBA or system administrator is expected to know that." Nonetheless, the issue was fixed in 2.2.220.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
H2Application
Affected:<= 2.1.214

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 a release after 2.1.214
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

2.2.220 or later

  1. 1. Identify all H2 Database Engine installations in your environment running version 2.1.214 or earlier
  2. 2. Download H2 Database Engine version 2.2.220 or later from the official GitHub releases page: https://github.com/h2database/h2database/releases
  3. 3. Replace the existing H2 Database Engine JAR files with the updated version
  4. 4. Review any startup scripts, systemd service files, or application configurations that pass -webAdminPassword on the command line and remove the password from command-line arguments
  5. 5. If the web admin console is needed, configure the password using a secure method (e.g., environment variables, configuration files with proper permissions, or a credential management system) instead of command-line arguments
  6. 6. Test that the H2 Database Engine starts correctly with the new version
  7. 7. Verify that the -webAdminPassword argument is no longer accepted or has been deprecated in the new version
Caveat Review application compatibility with H2 2.x series as there may be breaking changes from 1.x versions; test thoroughly before deploying to production

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

We can identify the exact fixed release, upgrade, and verify it in staging — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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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-2022-45868 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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