CVE-2022-41716

Unsanitized NUL in environment variables on Windows in syscall and os/exec

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: November 2, 2022 at 03:28 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:03 AM UTC
3 products affected across 2 vendorsGoOs/execSyscall· also runs on 1 platform

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.9%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Due to unsanitized NUL values, attackers may be able to maliciously set environment variables on Windows. In syscall.StartProcess and os/exec.Cmd, invalid environment variable values containing NUL values are not properly checked for. A malicious environment variable value can exploit this behavior to set a value for a different environment variable. For example, the environment variable string "A=B\x00C=D" sets the variables "A=B" and "C=D".

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 1.18.81.19.0 ≤ v < 1.19.3
Affected range stops below 1.18.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 1.19.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
microsoft-windows (environment)
v < 1.18.81.19.0-0 ≤ v < 1.19.31.19.0-0
Affected range stops below 1.18.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 1.19.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 1.18.81.19.0-0 ≤ v < 1.19.31.19.0-0
Affected range stops below 1.18.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 1.19.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Runs on — not affected

The affected product only carries this flaw when running on these platforms. The platforms themselves are not vulnerable.

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (5)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
NVD-CWE-Other

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