Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This Consul issue can let someone who already has privileged Consul access bypass service mesh intentions, weakening intended service-to-service access controls. It is not described as remotely exploitable by an unauthenticated attacker. Fixed versions are available for the affected release lines.
Executive priority
Treat this as a scheduled but important Consul upgrade, higher priority for service mesh deployments protecting sensitive services. The available evidence supports moderate urgency, not emergency response.
Technical view
Consul and Consul Enterprise up to 1.11.8, 1.12.4, and 1.13.1 did not properly check multiple SAN URI values in CSRs on an internal RPC endpoint. With privileged access, this could undermine service mesh intentions and cause high integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in Consul or Consul Enterprise environments using service mesh intentions, especially if running affected versions before 1.11.9, 1.12.5, or 1.13.2.
Exploitation context
The bundle shows no KEV listing and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation. The issue requires privileged access, but the impact matters where intentions are a key segmentation control.
Researcher notes
Focus validation on version state, service mesh intention usage, and privileged access paths to Consul internal RPC functions. The source bundle does not provide exploit details beyond malicious CSR handling.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Consul to 1.11.9, 1.12.5, 1.13.2, or later.
- Prioritize clusters using Consul service mesh intentions for sensitive segmentation.
- Review HashiCorp guidance for any environment-specific hardening advice.
- Limit privileged Consul access to trusted operators and automation only.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Consul and Consul Enterprise versions across all clusters.
- Confirm affected release lines are upgraded to fixed versions or later.
- Identify clusters where service mesh intentions enforce important access boundaries.
- Review Consul certificate issuance activity during the exposure window.
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
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ATT&CK lookup starting points
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CWE-252: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-40716 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N2.83.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://discuss.hashicorp.com/CVE reference
- https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2022-20-consul-service-mesh-intention-bypass-with-malicious-certificate-signing-request/44628CVE reference
- FEDORA-2023-9f5f1ef40aCVE reference · vendor-advisory
- FEDORA-2023-cf3551046dCVE reference · vendor-advisory
- FEDORA-2023-b9c1d0e4c5CVE reference · vendor-advisory
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.
Unchecked Return Value
Unchecked Return Value represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.