# CVE-2022-38065: Privilege escalation in OpenStack

> Attackers can escalate privileges within OpenStack containers due to overly permissive functionality in the oslo.privsep library.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:** 21 Dec 2022
- **Updated:** 15 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-38065, GHSA-5994-4pv5-xvvm, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-38065

## What is CVE-2022-38065?

CVE-2022-38065 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Openstack, published on 21 Dec 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the oslo.privsep functionality of OpenStack git master 05194e7618 and prior. Overly permissive functionality within tools leveraging this library within a container can lead increased privileges.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-38065?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat Openstack.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-38065?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-38065 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-38065 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-38065 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Openstack

- [CVE-2015-1842](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1842/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-2637](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-2637/): Auth bypass in rhosp-director (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2016-4474](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4474/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-31918](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31918/): Information disclosure in tripleo-ansible (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2013-1793](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1793/): Hardcoded credentials in openstack-db program (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-38065 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-38065 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Openstack, published on 21 Dec 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-2022-38065 exists.

Affected product: Redhat Openstack. 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-2022-38065/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-38065/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-38065
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-38065
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-38065

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-38065/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.