# CVE-2022-20773: Cisco Umbrella Virtual Appliance Static SSH Host Key Vulnerability

> An attacker can impersonate the appliance via MITM to steal admin credentials or modify configurations if SSH is enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Apr 2022
- **Updated:** 6 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wmwq-58jv-2qj3

## What is CVE-2022-20773?

CVE-2022-20773 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Umbrella Insights Virtual Appliance, published on 21 Apr 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the key-based SSH authentication mechanism of Cisco Umbrella Virtual Appliance (VA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to impersonate a VA. This vulnerability is due to the presence of a static SSH host key. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by performing a man-in-the-middle attack on an SSH connection to the Umbrella VA. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to learn the administrator credentials, change configurations, or reload the VA. Note: SSH is not enabled by default on the Umbrella VA.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), CWE-321 (Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20773?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Umbrella Virtual Appliance.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20773?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20773 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20773 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20773 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Umbrella Insights Virtual Appliance

- [CVE-2017-12350](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12350/): Hardcoded credentials in Cisco Umbrella Insights Virtual Appliance (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2017-6679](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6679/): Security feature bypass in Cisco Umbrella Virtual Appliance Version 2.0.3 and prior (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2026-20246](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20246/): Cisco Umbrella Virtual Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (medium 6.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20773 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20773 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Umbrella Insights Virtual Appliance, published on 21 Apr 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20773 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Umbrella Insights Virtual Appliance. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20773/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20773/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20773
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20773
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20773

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20773/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.