CVE-2022-39222 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.3) Information Exposure vulnerability in github.com/dexidp/dex. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/dexidp/dex — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OAuth authorization code exposure in Dex
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-39222.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-39222 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/dexidp/dexReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
Dex instances with public clients (and by extension, clients accepting tokens issued by those Dex instances) are affected by this vulnerability.
An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by making a victim navigate to a malicious website and guiding them through the OIDC flow, stealing the OAuth authorization code in the process. The authorization code then can be exchanged by the attacker for a token, gaining access to applications accepting that token.
Steps to reproduce
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A victim navigates to a malicious website
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The webserver initiates a connection with a Dex instance directly - https://dexexample.com/auth/https:%252F%252Faccounts.google.com?access_type=online&client_id=example&nonce=2AaJAimQU9CbeOFsNra1d7CJTWB&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%3A40393%2Fauth%2Fcallback&response_type=code&scope=openid+email&state=2AaJAjhpUmsB25csCo5muvorMTl. In this example, the Dex instance is hosted on
dexexample.com, and the connector isaccounts.google.com. -
Dex returns a 302 Redirect to the connector IDP, https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth?client_id=237800849078-hri2ndt7gdafpf34kq8crd5sik9pe3so.apps.googleusercontent.com&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fdexexample.com%2Fauth%2Fcallback&response_type=code&scope=openid+email&state=g3dkmpontsr3ugocoddjx72ef. The attacker records the state parameter value g3dkmpontsr3ugocoddjx72ef which will be used as the request ID later on.
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The malicious website redirects the victim’s browser to the connector IDP.
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The user authenticates to the connector IDP. If they have authenticated before, they may not be presented with an authentication challenge. The user will silently be taken through the following steps:
Authentication with the connector IDP, which redirects the browser to the Dex callback with a code - https://dexexample.com/callback?state=g3dkmpontsr3ugocoddjx72ef&code=4%2F0AX4XfWizg1PQEQNl18hmP0_YQ3iUYII2ed13n9ikKr_ZcV7uCZpZaPcIlxBzX5QwFIcs-w&scope=email+openid+https%3A%2F%[2Fwww.googleapis.com](http://2fwww.googleapis.com/)%2Fauth%2Fuserinfo.email&authuser=0&hd=[google.com](http://google.com/)&prompt=none
Dex handles the callback, fetching the user claims from the connector IDP, persisting them and generating an OAuth code. Then Dex redirects the browser to the approval endpoint https://dexexample.com/approval?req=g3dkmpontsr3ugocoddjx72ef. Note that the req parameter is the same as the attacker's recorded state parameter.
Dex uses the request ID to look up the OAuth code, and builds a redirect to the original callback with the code - http://localhost:40393/auth/callback?code=bz5p3oov2wlh5k3rboa4atxas&state=2AaJAjhpUmsB25csCo5muvorMTl.
In step 2., when the webserver initiates the connection to Dex and receives the redirect to the connector IDP, the webserver will persist the connector state parameter (g3dkmpontsr3ugocoddjx72ef), which is used as the request ID to later look up the OAuth code. As the user goes through the authentication flow with the connector IDP, the webserver will repeatedly request /approval?req=<state>. Once the user has successfully authenticated, if the webserver is able to call /approval before the victim’s browser calls /approval, then an attacker can fetch the Dex OAuth code which can be exchanged for an ID token using the /token endpoint.
Note that PKCE does not defend against this attack since the webserver initiates the request to Dex with a known code challenge.
Fix
The request has been made unpredictable with message authentication. This was accomplished by creating an HMAC using a randomly generated per-request secret. This secret is persisted between the initial login request and the approval request. Since the HMAC is derived using a secret key, its value cannot be known to an attacker, so they will be unable to poll /approval for the code.
Patches
Update to 2.35.0.
Workarounds
No known workarounds (without impacting behavior) for existing versions.
Disabling public clients is the only way to defend against attacks exploiting this vulnerability.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
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Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/dexidp/dex | all versions | 2.35.0go get github.com/dexidp/dex@v2.35.0 |
Research 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 github.com/dexidp/dex, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/dexidp/dex to 2.35.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-39222 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 O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-39222 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-39222. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.3 | advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-central-db-rhel8:4.3.1-4 | RHSA-2023:7725 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-39222 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-39222 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.