# CVE-2022-3569: Privilege escalation in Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS)

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to root by exploiting incorrect sudo permissions to run arbitrary commands via postfix.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 17 Oct 2022
- **Updated:** 13 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jq7j-25x9-p735

## What is CVE-2022-3569?

CVE-2022-3569 is a high-severity vulnerability in Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite, published on 17 Oct 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Due to an issue with incorrect sudo permissions, Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) suffers from a local privilege escalation issue in versions 9.0.0 and prior, where the 'zimbra' user can effectively coerce postfix into running arbitrary commands as 'root'.

Weakness: CWE-271 (Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-3569?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-3569?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-3569 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-3569 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-3569 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Zimbra sudo + postfix privilege escalation (metasploit)

## Other vulnerabilities in Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite

- [CVE-2024-45519](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-45519/): Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Command Execution (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-41352](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41352/): Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Arbitrary File Upload (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-37042](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-37042/): Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-27924](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-27924/): Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7796](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7796/): Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Server-Side Request Forgery (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-3569 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-3569 is a high-severity vulnerability in Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite, published on 17 Oct 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-3569 exists.

Affected product: Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite. 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-2022-3569/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-3569/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-3569
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-3569
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-3569

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-3569/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.