# CVE-2022-36048: IP address leak via image proxy bypass in Zulip Server

> An attacker can leak viewer IP addresses and browser fingerprints by bypassing the image proxy in Zulip Server when image previews are enabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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:** 31 Aug 2022
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vg5m-mf9x-j452

## What is CVE-2022-36048?

CVE-2022-36048 is a medium-severity vulnerability in zulip, published on 31 Aug 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 collaboration tool with topic-based threading that combines email and chat. When displaying messages with embedded remote images, Zulip normally loads the image preview via a go-camo proxy server. However, an attacker who can send messages could include a crafted URL that tricks the server into embedding a remote image reference directly. This could allow the attacker to infer the viewer’s IP address and browser fingerprinting information. This vulnerability is fixed in Zulip Server 5.6. Zulip organizations with image and link previews [disabled](https://zulip.com/help/allow-image-link-previews) are not affected.

Weakness: CWE-436 (Interpretation Conflict)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-36048?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Zulip Zulip.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-36048?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-36048 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-36048 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-36048 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-2022-36048 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-36048 is a medium-severity vulnerability in zulip, published on 31 Aug 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-2022-36048 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-2022-36048/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36048/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-36048
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-36048
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-36048

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36048/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.