# CVE-2022-42916: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Attackers can bypass HSTS protections in curl by using IDN characters, forcing insecure HTTP connections instead of HTTPS.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Oct 2022
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2022-42916, AZL-11369, AZL-38722, CLEANSTART-2026-TV45002, CURL-CVE-2022-42916, DEBIAN-CVE-2022-42916, ECHO-9a83-c6dc-3616, GHSA-6295-5j29-3cc8, JLSEC-2026-399, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-42916, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-42916

## What is CVE-2022-42916?

CVE-2022-42916 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple Macos, published on 29 Oct 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In curl before 7.86.0, the HSTS check could be bypassed to trick it into staying with HTTP. Using its HSTS support, curl can be instructed to use HTTPS directly (instead of using an insecure cleartext HTTP step) even when HTTP is provided in the URL. This mechanism could be bypassed if the host name in the given URL uses IDN characters that get replaced with ASCII counterparts as part of the IDN conversion, e.g., using the character UTF-8 U+3002 (IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP) instead of the common ASCII full stop of U+002E (.). The earliest affected version is 7.77.0 2021-05-26.

Weakness: CWE-319 (Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-42916?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Apple Macos, Fedoraproject Fedora, Haxx Curl, Splunk Universal Forwarder.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-42916?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2022-42916 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-42916 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Apple Macos

- [CVE-2026-65400](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-65400/): Apple macOS Improper Authentication (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-44146](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44146/): Security feature bypass in macOS (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-44148](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44148/): Security feature bypass in macOS (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-38586](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38586/): Security feature bypass in macOS (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-40455](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-40455/): Security feature bypass in macOS (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-42916 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-42916 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple Macos, published on 29 Oct 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-42916 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Apple Macos. 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-2022-42916/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-42916/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-42916
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-42916
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-42916

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-42916/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.