Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-22274

Memory Safety in Sonicwall Sonicos ≤ 7.0.1-5050

High EPSSMemory Safety
Published
25 March 2022
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.57 99th percentile
Risk Priority 88 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2022-22274 is a critical-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Sonicwall Sonicos. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in SonicOS, the operating system used by SonicWall firewalls. The flaw is triggered by specially crafted HTTP requests and is tracked under CWE-121 and CWE-787. It received a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 and was publicly disclosed on 25 March 2022.

A remote unauthenticated attacker can exploit the issue over the network by sending malicious HTTP requests, leading to denial of service or potential remote code execution on the firewall. The SonicWall PSIRT advisory SNWLID-2022-0003 at https://psirt.global.sonicwall.com/vuln-detail/SNWLID-2022-0003 addresses the vulnerability. The associated EPSS score reached a peak of 0.5728 and currently stands at 0.4861.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the SonicOS via HTTP request allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause Denial of Service (DoS) or potentially results in code execution in the firewall.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Accessconfidence: HIGH
Unauthenticated remote exploitation of a stack buffer overflow in a public-facing firewall via crafted HTTP requests directly enables exploitation of public-facing applications.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Executionconfidence: MEDIUM
Successful exploitation of the client-side HTTP request can result in arbitrary code execution on the target system.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impactconfidence: HIGH
The vulnerability can be abused to cause denial of service against the firewall endpoint.
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-0656Same product: Sonicwall Nsa 2700
CVE-2024-29012Same product: Sonicwall Nsa 2700
CVE-2025-40601Same product: Sonicwall Nsa 2700
CVE-2026-0399Same product: Sonicwall Nsa 2700
CVE-2026-3439Same product: Sonicwall Nsa 2700
CVE-2023-39277Same product: Sonicwall Sonicos
CVE-2023-39279Same product: Sonicwall Sonicos
CVE-2023-41711Same product: Sonicwall Sonicos
CVE-2023-39280Same product: Sonicwall Sonicos
CVE-2023-39276Same product: Sonicwall Sonicos

Affected Assets

sonicwall
sonicos
≤ 7.0.1-5050 · ≤ 7.0.1-r579
sonicwall
sonicosv
≤ 6.5.4.4-44v-21-1452

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • AC-17 Remote Access
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Enforces validation of all HTTP request inputs before processing, directly blocking the malformed payloads that trigger the stack buffer overflow.

prevent

Requires memory-protection mechanisms (e.g., ASLR, NX) that make successful exploitation of the stack-based overflow and resulting code execution far more difficult.

AC-17 Remote Access partial match
prevent

Restricts remote HTTP access to the firewall’s management interface to trusted endpoints and authenticated sessions, reducing the attack surface for unauthenticated exploitation.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References