CVE-2026-22552
Published: 06 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-22552 is a critical-severity Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Epower Epower.Ie. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 45.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and IA-3 (Device Identification and Authentication).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-22552 involves WebSocket endpoints that lack proper authentication mechanisms, classified under CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Function). This vulnerability affects OCPP WebSocket endpoints used for communication between charging stations and backend systems in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Attackers can exploit the absence of authentication to perform unauthorized station impersonation and manipulate data transmitted to the backend, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L).
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can connect to the OCPP WebSocket endpoint by using a known or discovered charging station identifier. Once connected, the attacker can issue or receive OCPP commands as if acting as a legitimate charger, resulting in privilege escalation, unauthorized control over charging infrastructure, and corruption of charging network data reported to the backend.
Mitigation guidance is detailed in official advisories, including CISA ICS Advisory ICSA-26-062-07 available at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-26-062-07, the corresponding CSAF JSON file at https://github.com/cisagov/CSAF/blob/develop/csaf_files/OT/white/2026/icsa-26-062-07.json, and vendor support resources at https://epower.ie/support/.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-9939
Vulnerability details
WebSocket endpoints lack proper authentication mechanisms, enabling attackers to perform unauthorized station impersonation and manipulate data sent to the backend. An unauthenticated attacker can connect to the OCPP WebSocket endpoint using a known or discovered charging station identifier, then issue…
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or receive OCPP commands as a legitimate charger. Given that no authentication is required, this can lead to privilege escalation, unauthorized control of charging infrastructure, and corruption of charging network data reported to the backend.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The vulnerability enables exploitation of a public-facing WebSocket application (T1190), allows impersonation of charging stations due to missing authentication (T1656), and facilitates manipulation of transmitted data to the backend (T1565.002).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires unique identification and authentication of charging stations as devices before establishing WebSocket connections, directly preventing unauthorized impersonation and command issuance.
Explicitly identifies, authorizes, monitors, and reviews actions permitted without authentication, ensuring no critical OCPP WebSocket functions like station impersonation are allowed unauthenticated.
Mandates authentication of service users (charging stations) by the OCPP WebSocket service before establishing communications, blocking unauthenticated connections and data manipulation.