{"id":71734,"date":"2025-09-06T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:00:40","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-26T17:19:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T23:19:41","slug":"cve-2022-38692-critical-rsa-key-size-validation-vulnerability-in-bootrom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2022-38692-critical-rsa-key-size-validation-vulnerability-in-bootrom\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2022-38692: Critical RSA Key Size Validation Vulnerability in BootROM<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BootROM, a fundamental component in many computing systems, is susceptible to a critical vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-38692. This vulnerability pertains to the missing size check for RSA keys during Certificate Type 0 validation, which can potentially cause memory buffer overflow. This issue is significant as it does not necessitate additional execution privileges, thereby increasing the ease and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-7457-macos-authorization-model-exploit-leading-to-potential-mitm-attacks\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79959\">potential impact of exploitation<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-41532-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-hospital-management-system-v4\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79560\">vulnerability affects a broad range of users and systems<\/a>, making it a prominent concern in the cybersecurity landscape.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2022-38692<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (CVSS Score: 9.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-42957-critical-backdoor-vulnerability-in-sap-s-4hana-exposes-systems-to-potential-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79585\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-4046931342\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>BootROM | All <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46715-kernel-pointer-vulnerability-in-sandboxie-versions-prior-to-1-15-12\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"82778\">versions prior<\/a> to the security patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The exploit hinges on the lack of size check for RSA keys during the validation of Certificate Type 0 in BootROM. In cryptographic operations, RSA keys are essential, and their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50594-critical-password-reset-vulnerability-in-danphe-health-hospital-management-system-emr-3-2\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80439\">management is a critical<\/a> security concern. An attacker can craft a Certificate Type 0 with an oversized RSA key, which the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2022-38696-bootrom-memory-buffer-overflow-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84492\">BootROM would attempt to load into a buffer<\/a> of a predefined size. The oversized key leads to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47134-heap-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-indesign-desktop\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79322\">buffer overflow<\/a>, potentially causing system instability or creating an opportunity for the execution of malicious code.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-101913699\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Below is a conceptual pseudocode example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">def exploit(target):\n# Prepare an oversized RSA key.\noversized_rsa_key = generate_rsa_key(size=OVERSIZED)\n# Craft a Certificate Type 0 with the oversized RSA key.\ncrafted_certificate = craft_certificate(rsa_key=oversized_rsa_key)\n# Send the crafted certificate to the target.\nsend_to_target(target, crafted_certificate)<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This code generates an oversized RSA key, embeds it into a crafted Certificate Type 0, and sends it to the target. The BootROM on the target system will attempt to load this oversized key into a buffer, causing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50162-heap-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-windows-rras\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79325\">buffer overflow<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To mitigate or resolve this vulnerability, users are strongly encouraged to apply the vendor&#8217;s security patch as soon as it becomes available. If the patch is not immediately accessible, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation. These systems can help detect and prevent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46414-unlimited-pin-attempts-vulnerability-in-api\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81199\">attempts to exploit the vulnerability<\/a>, thereby reducing the risk of a successful attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview BootROM, a fundamental component in many computing systems, is susceptible to a critical vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-38692. This vulnerability pertains to the missing size check for RSA keys during Certificate Type 0 validation, which can potentially cause memory buffer overflow. This issue is significant as it does not necessitate additional execution privileges, thereby increasing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[86],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-71734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-buffer-overflow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71734"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77274,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71734\/revisions\/77274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=71734"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=71734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}