CVE-2022-45299 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Path Traversal vulnerability in webbrowser. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for webbrowser — see the affected versions and patch details below.
webbrowser-rs allows attackers to access arbitrary files via supplying a crafted URL
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.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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-2022-45299.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
webbrowserReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
An issue in the IpFile argument of rust-lang webbrowser-rs v0.8.2 allows attackers to access arbitrary files via supplying a crafted URL.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | webbrowser | all versions | 0.8.3cargo update -p webbrowser --precise 0.8.3 |
Affected Products
webbrowserwebbrowser_projectResearch 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 webbrowser, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update webbrowser to 0.8.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-45299 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-45299 in your dependencies?
Find it across crates.io, including transitive dependencies.