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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2022-23597

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2022-02-01
  • Fixed in1.9.7
  • WeaknessCWE-416

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

Element Desktop is a Matrix client for desktop platforms with Element Web at its core. Element Desktop before 1.9.7 is vulnerable to a remote program execution bug with user interaction. The exploit is non-trivial and requires clicking on a malicious link, followed by another button click. To the best of our knowledge, the vulnerability has never been exploited in the wild. If you are using Element Desktop < 1.9.7, we recommend upgrading at your earliest convenience. If successfully exploited, the vulnerability allows an attacker to specify a file path of a binary on the victim's computer which then gets executed. Notably, the attacker does *not* have the ability to specify program arguments. However, in certain unspecified configurations, the attacker may be able to specify an URI instead of a file path which then gets handled using standard platform mechanisms. These may allow exploiting further vulnerabilities in those mechanisms, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2022-02-0112:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2022-23597?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2022-23597?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Element desktop
BranchAffectedFixed in
1.9< 1.9.71.9.7

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

  1. Update Element desktop to 1.9.7

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionnone2025-04-25
  • OpenCVESSVC decisionnone—
  • CNACVSS 3.18.3read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.18.8read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.05.1read 2026-10-23
  • CISA-ADPweakness (CWE)CWE-4162025-05-05
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-416read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score1.5 %2026-10-22

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2022-02-01
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-23597?

Element Desktop is a Matrix client for desktop platforms with Element Web at its core. Element Desktop before 1.9.7 is vulnerable to a remote program execution bug with user interaction. The exploit is non-trivial and requires clicking on a malicious link, followed by another button click. To the best of our knowledge, the vulnerability has never been exploited in the wild. If you are using Element Desktop < 1.9.7, we recommend upgrading at your earliest convenience. If successfully exploited, the vulnerability allows an attacker to specify a file path of a binary on the victim's computer which then gets executed. Notably, the attacker does *not* have the ability to specify program arguments. However, in certain unspecified configurations, the attacker may be able to specify an URI instead of a file path which then gets handled using standard platform mechanisms. These may allow exploiting further vulnerabilities in those mechanisms, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

Is CVE-2022-23597 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2022-23597 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 1.5% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-23597?

CVE-2022-23597 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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