CVE-2022-3980
Published: 16 November 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-3980 is a critical-severity Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (CWE-611) vulnerability in Sophos Mobile. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
An XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-3980 and assigned CWE-611, affects Sophos Mobile managed on-premises installations in versions 5.0.0 through 9.7.4. The flaw carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 and can be triggered over the network without authentication, enabling server-side request forgery (SSRF) and potential remote code execution.
Unauthenticated remote attackers can supply malicious XML payloads to the affected server, leveraging external entity processing to reach internal resources or execute arbitrary code. Because the vector requires no user interaction or credentials, the issue is remotely exploitable at scale against exposed on-premises management instances.
The vendor advisory at https://www.sophos.com/en-us/security-advisories/sophos-sa-20221116-smc-xee addresses the issue and directs customers to apply the available remediation for versions up to 9.7.4. The associated EPSS score has remained elevated, with a current value of 0.8565 and a recorded peak of 0.8861.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-43309
Vulnerability details
An XML External Entity (XEE) vulnerability allows server-side request forgery (SSRF) and potential code execution in Sophos Mobile managed on-premises between versions 5.0.0 and 9.7.4.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
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.