CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2022-45063 — Invisible-Island Xterm security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

xterm before 375 allows code execution via font ops, e.g., because an OSC 50 response may have Ctrl-g and therefore lead to command execution within the vi line-editing mode of Zsh. NOTE: font ops are not allowed in the xterm default configurations of some Linux distributions.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2022-11-10
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-77

Affected products

  • invisible-island / xterm
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 35
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 36
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 37

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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