CVE-2022-41918 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.3) CWE-612 vulnerability in org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security. A fix is available for org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Issue with fine-grained access control of indices backing data streams
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-41918.
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-2022-41918 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 377,238 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
org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security☕org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-securityReal-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
OpenSearch is a community-driven, open source fork of Elasticsearch and Kibana. There is an issue with the implementation of fine-grained access control rules (document-level security, field-level security and field masking) where they are not correctly applied to the indices that back data streams potentially leading to incorrect access authorization. OpenSearch 1.3.7 and 2.4.0 contain a fix for this issue. Users are advised to update. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security | all versions | 1.3.7org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security:1.3.7 |
| ☕Maven | org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.4.0 | 2.4.0org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security:2.4.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security to 1.3.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-41918 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-2022-41918 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-41918. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-41918 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-41918 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.