# CVE-2022-21181: Privilege escalation in Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi and Killer(TM) WiFi products

> A local privileged user can escalate privileges due to improper input validation in Intel and Killer WiFi drivers.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Aug 2022
- **Updated:** 5 May 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-21181, GHSA-f9c5-w6cg-h9jq

## What is CVE-2022-21181?

CVE-2022-21181 is a high-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi and Killer(TM) WiFi products, published on 18 Aug 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Improper input validation for some Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi and Killer(TM) WiFi products may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-21181?

It affects 7 products.


Products: Intel Dual Band Wireless-Ac 8260 Firmware, Intel Dual Band Wireless-Ac 8265 Firmware, Intel Killer Ac 1550 Firmware, Intel Wireless-Ac 9260 Firmware, Intel Wireless-Ac 9461 Firmware, Intel Wireless-Ac 9462 Firmware, Intel Wireless-Ac 9560 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-21181?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-21181 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21181 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-21181 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-21181 is a high-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi and Killer(TM) WiFi products, published on 18 Aug 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21181 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi and Killer(TM) WiFi products. 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-2022-21181/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21181/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-21181
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-21181
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-21181

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21181/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.