# CVE-2022-21798: ICSA-22-053-02 GE Proficy CIMPLICITY-Cleartext

> Cleartext transmission of credentials in GE Proficy CIMPLICITY allows attackers to intercept and reuse them for unauthorized system access.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 Feb 2022
- **Updated:** 16 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xvrm-wwcv-vr6g

## What is CVE-2022-21798?

CVE-2022-21798 is a high-severity vulnerability in General Electric Proficy CIMPLICITY, published on 25 Feb 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The affected product is vulnerable due to cleartext transmission of credentials seen in the CIMPLICITY network, which can be easily spoofed and used to log in to make operational changes to the system.

Weakness: CWE-319 (Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-21798?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ge Cimplicity.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-21798?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-21798 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-21798 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21798 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in General Electric Proficy CIMPLICITY

- [CVE-2018-15362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15362/): XML external entity in GE Proficy Cimplicity GDS (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2023-4487](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4487/): GE Digital CIMPLICITY Process Control (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-2002](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2002/): GE CIMPLICITY Untrusted Pointer Dereference (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-2948](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2948/): GE CIMPLICITY Heap-based Buffer Overflow (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-2952](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2952/): GE CIMPLICITY Access of Uninitialized Pointer (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-21798 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-21798 is a high-severity vulnerability in General Electric Proficy CIMPLICITY, published on 25 Feb 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-2022-21798 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: General Electric Proficy CIMPLICITY. 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-2022-21798/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21798/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-21798
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-21798
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-21798

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21798/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.