How severe is CVE-2022-39197?

CVE-2022-39197 has a CVSS score of 6.1/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which products are affected by CVE-2022-39197?

Affected package information for CVE-2022-39197 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I patch CVE-2022-39197?

Apply the helpsystems cobalt strike security patch or hotfix for CVE-2022-39197 on the affected version, following the vendor advisory for your exact build.

How do I detect CVE-2022-39197 across my infrastructure?

Inventory every helpsystems cobalt strike deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above. Because the exploit targets the running system rather than your application code, also watch for exploitation at the network and runtime layer — O3 flags the exploit behaviour from runtime telemetry and egress traffic even before a vulnerable build is confirmed.

How do I mitigate CVE-2022-39197 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cut exposure now: restrict the management/admin interface to trusted networks, segment the device, and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations and any WAF/IPS signature. O3's runtime protection blocks the exploit chain at execution, holding the line on unpatched or end-of-life systems until you can patch.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2022-39197?

O3 detects and blocks CVE-2022-39197 exploitation at runtime: eBPF exploit-chain detection, plus L7 egress monitoring that catches the post-exploitation callback and severs the attacker's outbound channel.

Is CVE-2022-39197 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 24 known exploit references for CVE-2022-39197, including 13 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2022-39197?

CVE-2022-39197 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 46.4%, placing it in the 99th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

Is CVE-2022-39197 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2022-39197 (Fortra Cobalt Strike Teamserver Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2023-03-30. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2023-04-20. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2022-39197?

CVE-2022-39197 is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2022-39197?

CVE-2022-39197 affects helpsystems cobalt strike. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2022-39197 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2022-39197 was published on September 22, 2022 and was last updated on June 17, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2023-03-30 — agencies required to remediate by 2023-04-20

CVE-2022-39197

MEDIUM

An XSS (Cross Site Scripting) vulnerability was found in HelpSystems Cobalt Strike through 4.7 that allowed a remote attacker to execute HTML on the Cobalt Strike teamserver. To exploit…

Published

Sep 22, 2022

Updated

Jun 17, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

24 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

46.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

High Risk99th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

An XSS (Cross Site Scripting) vulnerability was found in HelpSystems Cobalt Strike through 4.7 that allowed a remote attacker to execute HTML on the Cobalt Strike teamserver. To exploit the vulnerability, one must first inspect a Cobalt Strike payload, and then modify the username field in the payload (or create a new payload with the extracted information and then modify that username field to be malformed).

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

cobalt strikehelpsystems

< 4.7.1

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.