NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2022-21647: Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Codeigniter4

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 50/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 37.6% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.5% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: codeigniter4/framework (Packagist) 4.1.6.
Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 7.7, NVD 9.8.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Upgrade to codeigniter4/framework (Packagist) 4.1.6 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

CodeIgniter is an open source PHP full-stack web framework. Deserialization of Untrusted Data was found in the `old()` function in CodeIgniter4. Remote attackers may inject auto-loadable arbitrary objects with this vulnerability, and possibly execute existing PHP code on the server. We are aware of a working exploit, which can lead to SQL injection. Users are advised to upgrade to v4.1.6 or later. Users unable to upgrade as advised to not use the `old()` function and form_helper nor `RedirectResponse::withInput()` and `redirect()->withInput()`.

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

GHSA-w6jr-wj64-mc9x

Published: Jan 4, 2022
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 37.6% · 98th percentile
CWE: CWE-502

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS: 39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 11 / 30 · 37.6%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 9.8
CNA · GitHub_M: 7.7; 2.1 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
codeigniter	codeigniter	cpe:2.3:a:codeigniter:codeigniter

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

codeigniter codeigniter4.0.0 and later · before 4.1.6

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

codeigniter4 CodeIgniter4
- < 4.1.6affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Packagist	codeigniter4/framework	before 4.1.6	4.1.6

Same product

codeigniter: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2014-8684CodeIgniter before 3.0 and Kohana 3.2.3 and earlier and 3.3.x through 3.3.2 make it easier for remote attackers to spoof session cookies and
61This week
CVE-2014-8686CodeIgniter before 2.2.0 makes it easier for attackers to decode session cookies by leveraging fallback to a custom XOR-based encryption sch
60This week
CVE-2015-5725SQL injection vulnerability in the offset method in the Active Record class in CodeIgniter before 2.2.4 allows remote attackers to execute a
40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2012-1915Jan 9, 2020 · EllisLab CodeIgniter 2.1.2 allows remote attackers to bypass the xss_clean() Filter and perform XSS attacks.
25Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2020-10793Mar 23, 2020 · CodeIgniter through 4.0.0 allows remote attackers to gain privileges via a modified Email ID to the "Select Role of the User" page.
36Monitor
Later →CVE-2022-21715Jan 24, 2022 · Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability in CodeIgniter4
24Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
Packagist:codeigniter4/framework	4.1.6	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

codeigniter4/CodeIgniter4commit ce95ed5

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

Data received over the network is deserialized into the language’s native object format without verifying its source. Code paths inside the object can be triggered during deserialization.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-502 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

python

1payload = sock.recv(65536)
2job = pickle.loads(payload)

Fixed

python

1payload = sock.recv(65536)
2if not hmac.compare_digest(sign(payload), header_sig):
3    raise PermissionError("invalid signature")
4job = JobSchema.validate(json.loads(payload))