CVE-2022-39197

An XSS (Cross Site Scripting) vulnerability was found in HelpSystems Cobalt Strike through 4.7 that allowed a remote attacker to execute HTML on the Cobalt Strike teamserver. To exploit the vulnerability, one must first inspect a Cobalt Strike payload, and then modify the username field in the payload (or create a new payload with the extracted information and then modify that username field to be malformed).

CVSS: 6.1Mediumscored by CISA
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 30 Mar 2023CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 20 Apr 2023unvetted proof-of-concept code on github
EPSS: 44.1%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 2% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
Published: 22 Sept 2022analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Client-side
Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Weakness: CWE-79 Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Can a WAF block it?: Yes. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Products named in our analysis

helpsystems:cobalt_strike

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Yes. Cross-site scripting sends script tags or event handlers in the request, which WAF signatures match well.

Also consider: CSP · output encoding

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 30 Mar 2023.
CISA due date: 20 Apr 2023, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit code: Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 15 GitHub proofs of concept
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact partialAssessed by CISA 28 Jan 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

GitHub proofs of concept

and 11 more repositories

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

21 Sept 2022First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted)
22 Sept 2022Published1 day later
30 Mar 2023Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)189 days (about 6 months) later
20 Apr 2023CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
28 Jan 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active650 days (about 2 years) later
21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated266 days (about 9 months) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	RequiredA victim must click, open or otherwise cooperate.	A victim must click, open or otherwise cooperate.
Scope	ChangedImpact crosses a security boundary into other components.	Impact crosses a security boundary into other components.
Confidentiality	LowPartial data disclosure.	Partial data disclosure.
Integrity	LowLimited modification possible.	Limited modification possible.
Availability	NoneThe service stays up.	The service stays up.

Common questions

Is CVE-2022-39197 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2022-39197 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2022-39197?

CVE-2022-39197 is rated Medium with a CVSS score of 6.1. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2022-39197?

Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2022-39197. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.

What does CVE-2022-39197 affect?

CVE-2022-39197 affects helpsystems:cobalt_strike. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

3 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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