Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a local privilege escalation issue in ABB Drive Composer-related software. A low-privileged user can trigger a repair path that may create a new file anywhere on the system as SYSTEM. That can undermine endpoint integrity and confidentiality on affected engineering or automation workstations.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority endpoint hardening issue for ABB engineering environments. It is not described as remotely exploitable or actively exploited in the provided sources, but successful abuse can give local users SYSTEM-level file write capability and may support broader compromise.
Technical view
CVE-2022-31218 is a CWE-59 link-following vulnerability with CVSS 7.8. The reported condition lets a low-privileged local attacker write arbitrary content to a non-existing file as SYSTEM through the Drive Composer installer repair operation. Scope is unchanged, with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Likely exposure is limited to systems where affected ABB Drive Composer entry, Drive Composer pro, ABB Automation Builder, or Mint WorkBench components are installed or their installer repair functionality remains available. The provided version data includes unspecified entries, so teams should validate against ABB guidance.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not identify active exploitation, and KEV is false. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, but no user interaction is required once the attacker has that access. The practical risk is higher on shared engineering workstations or systems with broad local user access.
Researcher notes
The key primitive is arbitrary creation of a previously non-existing file as SYSTEM via link-following during repair. Public evidence here does not include exploit details, patch versions, or detection indicators. Validation should focus on product/version presence, local repair exposure, and post-remediation behavior.
Mitigation direction
- Review ABB advisory 9AKK108467A0305 for the supported fix or workaround.
- Inventory affected ABB Drive Composer-related installations and installer repair availability.
- Apply ABB-recommended updates or mitigations once confirmed for your installed version.
- Restrict local interactive access on affected engineering workstations.
- Monitor for unexpected SYSTEM-created files in sensitive paths.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether listed ABB products and versions exist on managed endpoints.
- Check whether low-privileged users can access installer repair functionality.
- Review endpoint logs for installer repair activity by non-administrative users.
- Look for unusual newly created files owned or written by SYSTEM.
- Verify remediation status against ABB’s advisory, not only installed product names.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-59: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-31218 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.