CVE-2022-36537 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in org.zkoss.zk:zk. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-02-27) and has been used in ransomware campaigns — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available for org.zkoss.zk:zk — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ZK Framework vulnerable to malicious POST
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-02-27 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2023-03-20.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2022-36537.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-36537 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.zkoss.zk:zk☕org.zkoss.zk:zk☕org.zkoss.zk:zk☕org.zkoss.zk:zk☕org.zkoss.zk:zkReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
ZK Framework version 9.6.1, 9.6.0.1, 9.5.1.3, 9.0.1.2 and 8.6.4.1 allows attackers to access sensitive information via a crafted POST request sent to the component AuUploader.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.zkoss.zk:zk | all versions | 8.6.4.2org.zkoss.zk:zk:8.6.4.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.zkoss.zk:zk | ≥ 9.0.0.0&&< 9.0.1.3 | 9.0.1.3org.zkoss.zk:zk:9.0.1.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.zkoss.zk:zk | ≥ 9.5.0.0&&< 9.5.1.4 | 9.5.1.4org.zkoss.zk:zk:9.5.1.4 |
| ☕Maven | org.zkoss.zk:zk | ≥ 9.6.0.0&&< 9.6.0.2 | 9.6.0.2org.zkoss.zk:zk:9.6.0.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.zkoss.zk:zk | ≥ 9.6.1&&< 9.6.2 | 9.6.2org.zkoss.zk:zk:9.6.2 |
Affected Products
zk frameworkzkossResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.zkoss.zk:zk, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.zkoss.zk:zk to 8.6.4.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-36537 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How to detect CVE-2022-36537
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2022-36537 -u https://target- Template
- ZK Framework - Information Disclosure
- Severity
- high
- Impact
- The vulnerability can lead to the exposure of sensitive data, such as credentials or internal system information.
- Remediation
- Apply the latest security patches or updates provided by the ZK Framework to fix the information disclosure vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (theamanrawat), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-36537 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.