Out-of-bounds Read in Onionshare

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS 4.0

8.7 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N · score source

EPSS

• CVE-2022-21688: 0.86% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 58.58 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Between September 26, 2021 and October 8, 2021, Radically Open Security conducted a penetration test of OnionShare 2.4, funded by the Open Technology Fund's Red Team lab. This is an issue from that penetration test. - Vulnerability ID: OTF-014 - Vulnerability type: Out-of-bounds Read - Threat level: Elevated Description: The desktop application was found to be vulnerable to denial of service via an undisclosed vulnerability in the QT image parsing. Technical description: Prerequisites: - Onion address is known - Public service or authentication is valid - Desktop application is used - History is displayed The rendering of images found in OTF-001 (page 25) could be elevated to a Denial of Service, which requires only very few bytes to be sent as a path parameter to any of the Onionshare functions. Roughly 20 bytes lead to 2GB memory consumption and this can be triggered multiple times. To be abused, this vulnerability requires rendering in the history tab, so some user interaction is…

Published by the source

21 Jan 2022, 23:20 UTC

Last modified by the source

8 Oct 2024, 13:00 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 13:21 UTC

1. Revision 3 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v

2. Revision 2 · amended · 25 Oct 2026

   Reviewed OSV alias/range/CVSS4 correction; package source scopes and original publication preserved. No customer finding resolved.

3. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2022-21688

Advisory: Out-of-bounds Read in Onionshare
IDs: CVE-2022-21688, GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2022-21688 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 13:21 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.7)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: onionshare-cli 2.5. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- PyPI onionshare-cli: affected < 2.5; fixed in 2.5

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `python -m pip show onionshare-cli`: prints the installed version. Run with the environment that serves production active.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on onionshare-cli.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v (OSV record GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v lists affected ranges: PyPI onionshare-cli >=0 <2.5 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-x7wr-283h-5h2v lists affected ranges: PyPI onionshare-cli >=0 <2.5)

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