# CVE-2022-31168: Zulip Server insufficient authorization for changing bot roles

> A member can escalate privileges to organization administrator by crafting an API call to grant admin rights to their own bot.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Jul 2022
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c3cp-ggg5-9xw5

## What is CVE-2022-31168?

CVE-2022-31168 is a medium-severity vulnerability in zulip, published on 22 Jul 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Zulip is an open source team chat tool. Due to an incorrect authorization check in Zulip Server 5.4 and earlier, a member of an organization could craft an API call that grants organization administrator privileges to one of their bots. The vulnerability is fixed in Zulip Server 5.5. Members who don’t own any bots, and lack permission to create them, can’t exploit the vulnerability. As a workaround for the vulnerability, an organization administrator can restrict the `Who can create bots` permission to administrators only, and change the ownership of existing bots.

Weakness: CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization), CWE-285 (Improper Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-31168?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Zulip Zulip.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-31168?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-31168 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-31168 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31168 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in zulip

- [CVE-2021-43799](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-43799/): RabbitMQ exposes ports with weak default secrets in Zulip Server (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2022-35962](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35962/): Crafted link in Zulip message can cause disclosure of credentials (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2016-4427](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4427/): Auth bypass in zulip (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-3866](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3866/): Cross-site Scripting (XSS) - Stored in zulip/zulip (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2023-28623](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28623/): Unauthorized user can register an account in specific configurations in Zulip (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-31168 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-31168 is a medium-severity vulnerability in zulip, published on 22 Jul 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31168 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: zulip. 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-2022-31168/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31168/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-31168
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-31168
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-31168

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31168/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.