CVE-2022-46334
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 · uneditedProofpoint Enterprise Protection (PPS/PoD) contains a vulnerability which allows the pps user to escalate to root privileges due to unnecessary permissions. This affects all versions 8.19.0 and below.
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 confidenceProofpoint Enterprise Protection contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability where the 'pps' service user has unnecessary file system or system permissions that can be leveraged to gain root privileges. This is a classic permission misconfiguration allowing vertical privilege escalation.
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<= 8.19.0CVSS 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
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Proofpoint Enterprise Protection versionLocate and read the Proofpoint installation or version file, typically found in /opt/proofpoint or the application installation directory. Use command: grep -i version /opt/proofpoint/*/version 2>/dev/null or check the package manager: rpm -q proofpoint-protection 2>/dev/nullAffected if The installed version is 8.19.0 or lower
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Verify pps service user existsCheck if the pps user account exists on the system: id pps or grep ^pps: /etc/passwdAffected if The pps user account exists on the system
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Check file system permissions granted to pps userUse 'find' command to locate files or directories writable by pps user: find / -user pps -perm -002 2>/dev/null | head -50. Focus on system directories like /etc, /usr, /var, /optAffected if The pps user has write permissions to system directories or sensitive configuration files
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Check sudo privileges for pps userExamine sudo configuration for pps user: sudo -l -U pps 2>/dev/null or grep -r ^pps /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.d/ 2>/dev/nullAffected if The pps user has sudo permissions that allow privilege escalation to root
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Check for writable scripts or services run as ppsIdentify executable scripts or services owned or writable by pps user in system directories: find /etc /opt /usr -user pps -type f -perm -002 2>/dev/null | grep -E '\.(sh|py|pl|conf|service)$'Affected if The pps user owns writable scripts or configuration files that are executed with elevated privileges
A user is affected if Proofpoint Enterprise Protection version 8.19.0 or lower is installed AND the pps service user has excessive file system or system permissions that could be exploited for root privilege escalation.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataReview and restrict file system and system permissions for the pps user, removing unnecessary privileges. Upgrade to version 8.19.1 or later if a fixed version is available, after testing in a non-production environment.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-46334 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-46334 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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