Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-28291

MediumPublic PoC

Published: 17 October 2022

Published
17 October 2022
Modified
13 May 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0021 43.3th percentile
Risk Priority 13 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2022-28291 is a medium-severity Insufficiently Protected Credentials (CWE-522) vulnerability in Tenable Nessus. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 43.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Insufficiently Protected Credentials: An authenticated user with debug privileges can retrieve stored Nessus policy credentials from the “nessusd” process in cleartext via process dumping. The affected products are all versions of Nessus Essentials and Professional. The vulnerability allows an attacker…

more

to access credentials stored in Nessus scanners, potentially compromising its customers’ network of assets.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

tenable
nessus
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-522

Training instructs users on protecting credentials from disclosure or unauthorized access.

addresses: CWE-522

Training records for security awareness and role-based training verify education on credential protection practices, tangibly reducing risks from mishandling or exposing credentials.

addresses: CWE-522

Protecting authenticator content from unauthorized disclosure and modification while requiring protective controls addresses insufficiently protected credentials.

addresses: CWE-522

Rules of behavior include credential protection and non-sharing requirements, reducing exposure of insufficiently protected credentials.

addresses: CWE-522

Terminating or revoking credentials stops use of insufficiently protected or lingering credentials post-termination.

addresses: CWE-522

Requiring confidentiality/integrity protection for stored credentials directly mitigates insufficiently protected credentials on disk or in configuration stores.

addresses: CWE-522

Credentials or keys delivered out-of-band are not exposed to interception or inadequate protection on the main transport.

References