# CVE-2022-31214: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local attacker can exploit a privilege context switching flaw in Firejail to gain root privileges by manipulating namespaces and executing setuid binaries.

- **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:** 9 Jun 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-31214, DLA-3061-1, DSA-5167-1, GHSA-m2xv-wgqg-4gxh, MGASA-2022-0348, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-31214, openSUSE-SU-2022:10015-1, openSUSE-SU-2022:10016-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:12136-1

## What is CVE-2022-31214?

CVE-2022-31214 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 9 Jun 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A Privilege Context Switching issue was discovered in join.c in Firejail 0.9.68. By crafting a bogus Firejail container that is accepted by the Firejail setuid-root program as a join target, a local attacker can enter an environment in which the Linux user namespace is still the initial user namespace, the NO_NEW_PRIVS prctl is not activated, and the entered mount namespace is under the attacker's control. In this way, the filesystem layout can be adjusted to gain root privileges through execution of available setuid-root binaries such as su or sudo.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-31214?

It affects 3 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `firejail` | SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP3 | All versions | 0.9.70-bp153.2.6.1 |
| `firejail` | SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP4 | All versions | 0.9.70-bp154.2.3.1 |
| `firejail` | openSUSE:Leap 15.3 | All versions | 0.9.70-bp153.2.6.1 |
| `firejail` | openSUSE:Leap 15.4 | All versions | 0.9.70-bp154.2.3.1 |

Products: Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Firejail Project Firejail.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-31214?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-31214 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31214 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-31214 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-31214 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 9 Jun 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-2022-31214 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2022-31214/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31214/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-31214
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-31214
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-31214

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31214/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.