# CVE-2022-32973: Privilege escalation in Nessus

> An authenticated attacker can create an audit file to bypass PowerShell checks and execute commands with administrator privileges in Nessus.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Jun 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c9hm-78qq-78cf

## What is CVE-2022-32973?

CVE-2022-32973 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 21 Jun 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An authenticated attacker could create an audit file that bypasses PowerShell cmdlet checks and executes commands with administrator privileges.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-32973?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tenable Nessus.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-32973?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-32973 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-32973 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-32973 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Tenable Nessus

- [CVE-2022-4313](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4313/): Command injection in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc and Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0524](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0524/): Privilege escalation in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc, Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0101](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0101/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-36630](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36630/): Local Privilege Escalation (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2019-3974](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3974/): Path traversal in Tenable Nessus (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-32973 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-32973 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 21 Jun 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-2022-32973 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tenable Nessus. 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-2022-32973/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-32973/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-32973
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-32973
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-32973

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-32973/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.