Intellij IdeaApplication · Jetbrains

CVE-2022-48432

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2023.1 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA before 2023.1 the bundled version of Chromium wasn't sandboxed.

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

In JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA versions prior to 2023.1, the bundled Chromium embedded browser was not running in a sandboxed environment. This means potential vulnerabilities in the embedded browser could be exploited to escape the sandbox and execute arbitrary code on the host system, bypassing a critical security defense layer.

MitigationUpgrade IntelliJ IDEA to version 2023.1 or later where the bundled Chromium is properly sandboxed. For organizations unable to upgrade immediately, consider disabling the embedded browser functionality or implementing additional network segmentation as a compensating control.

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
Intellij IdeaApplication
Affected:< 2023.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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 installed IntelliJ IDEA version
    Open IntelliJ IDEA, go to Help > About (or use the command: ls /opt/idea* or check the installation directory for a version file). On Windows, check Add/Remove Programs or the installation folder.
    Affected if The displayed version is earlier than 2023.1 (for example, 2022.3, 2022.2, etc.)
  2. Determine if embedded browser is in use
    The embedded Chromium browser is used internally by features like Markdown preview, Database tool window preview, Spellchecking with Grazie plugin, and some JetBrains Toolbox features. Check if any of these features are actively used in your workflows.
    Affected if You actively use Markdown rendering, database previews, or other features that render web content within the IDE on versions prior to 2023.1
  3. Verify sandbox status for embedded browser
    This vulnerability exists when the embedded browser renders untrusted web content. No direct config file exists to check sandbox status on affected versions - the issue is that the sandbox was not enabled by default in versions prior to 2023.1.
    Affected if You view or render any external or untrusted HTML/Markdown content in IntelliJ IDEA versions prior to 2023.1

You are affected if you are running any IntelliJ IDEA version earlier than 2023.1 and actively use features that render web content (Markdown preview, database tool previews, etc.) within the IDE.

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 2023.1 or later
Fixed in 2023.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade IntelliJ IDEA to version 2023.1 or later where the bundled Chromium is properly sandboxed. For organizations unable to upgrade immediately, consider disabling the embedded browser functionality or implementing additional network segmentation as a compensating control.

Recommended fix High confidence

2023.1 or later

  1. Download IntelliJ IDEA 2023.1 or later from the official JetBrains website (www.jetbrains.com)
  2. Install the new version of IntelliJ IDEA
  3. Verify the installation completed successfully
  4. Optionally uninstall the previous vulnerable version
Caveat Review JetBrains release notes for feature changes between your current version and 2023.1

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

Fix this in Intellij Idea Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-48432 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-48432 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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