CVE-2022-42954 is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Keyfactor EJBCA versions prior to 7.10.0. EJBCA (Enterprise Java Beans Certificate Authority) is a widely used open-source certificate authority software that enables organizations to manage digital certificates and public key infrastructure (PKI). The vulnerability is classified under CWE-79, which pertains to improper neutralization of input during web page generation, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. Specifically, this XSS flaw arises due to insufficient input validation or output encoding in the affected EJBCA versions, enabling an authenticated user with low privileges (PR:L) to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of another user’s browser session. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.4 (medium severity), with an attack vector of network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:L), and user interaction (UI:R). The scope is changed (S:C), indicating that exploitation could affect resources beyond the vulnerable component. The impact affects confidentiality and integrity to a limited extent (C:L, I:L), but does not impact availability (A:N). No known exploits in the wild have been reported, and no official patches are linked in the provided data, though it is known that versions 7.10.0 and later address this issue. The vulnerability allows an attacker to potentially steal session tokens, perform actions on behalf of other users, or deliver malicious payloads, which could lead to further compromise within the PKI environment.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily to the integrity and confidentiality of certificate management operations. Since EJBCA is used to issue and manage digital certificates, exploitation could allow attackers to manipulate certificate issuance processes or access sensitive certificate data, undermining trust in organizational PKI deployments. This could impact sectors relying heavily on secure communications and identity verification, such as finance, government, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. The requirement for low-level privileges and user interaction limits the ease of exploitation but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with many users or where social engineering is feasible. The scope change indicates that exploitation could affect other components or users beyond the initial target, potentially amplifying impact. Disruption of PKI services could lead to cascading effects on secure communications, authentication, and data protection across European enterprises.

Organizations should prioritize upgrading EJBCA installations to version 7.10.0 or later, where this XSS vulnerability is resolved. In the absence of immediate upgrade capability, applying strict input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data within the EJBCA web interface can mitigate exploitation. Implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can reduce the impact of injected scripts by restricting script execution sources. Additionally, limiting user privileges to the minimum necessary and enforcing multi-factor authentication can reduce the risk of exploitation. Regularly monitoring web application logs for suspicious input patterns or anomalous user behavior can help detect attempted exploitation. Network segmentation and web application firewalls (WAFs) configured to detect and block XSS payloads may provide additional layers of defense. Finally, educating users about phishing and social engineering risks can reduce the likelihood of successful user interaction required for exploitation.