# CVE-2022-2188: DXL Broker privilege escalation vulnerability

> Local attackers can exploit weak directory permissions in DXL Broker logs to escalate privileges and cause denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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:** No
- **Published:** 7 Nov 2022
- **Updated:** 8 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h7pw-cjr2-mh4p

## What is CVE-2022-2188?

CVE-2022-2188 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Trellix DXL Broker, published on 7 Nov 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Privilege escalation vulnerability in DXL Broker for Windows prior to 6.0.0.280 allows local users to gain elevated privileges by exploiting weak directory controls in the logs directory. This can lead to a denial-of-service attack on the DXL Broker.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-2188?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mcafee Data Exchange Layer.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-2188?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-2188 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-2188 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-2188 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trellix DXL Broker

- [CVE-2019-3612](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3612/): Information disclosure vulnerability in McAfee TIE Server and DXL Platform (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2020-7252](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7252/): Unquoted service executable path (medium 4.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-2188 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-2188 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Trellix DXL Broker, published on 7 Nov 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-2022-2188 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trellix DXL Broker. 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-2022-2188/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2188/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-2188
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-2188
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-2188

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2188/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.