Coverage › CVE-2022-22954
CVE-2022-22954 Mapped Sigma
VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager Server-Side Template Injection Vulnerability
- Vendor / product
- VMware — Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager
- Description (CISA)
- VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager allow for remote code execution due to server-side template injection.
- Added to KEV
- 2022-04-14
- Due date
- 2022-05-05
- Required action
- Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- Known ransomware use
- Known
- CWE
- CWE-94
- CISA notes
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-22954
- Elsewhere
- cve.org · NVD · CISA KEV · JSON
ATT&CK techniques · CTID Mappings Explorer, ATT&CK 16.1, KEV snapshot 2025-07-28
2 mapping objects across 2 techniques. exploitation technique states how the vulnerability is exploited; primary and secondary impact state what exploitation achieves. They are different claims and are labelled as such.
| Technique | Mapping type | CTID comment | Status in v19.2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1221 Template Injection | exploitation technique | This vulnerability is exploited via server-side template injection to achieve remote code execution. This access is then used to establish backdoors. Adversaries have been observed chaining this with CVE-2022-22960 in order to escalate privileges to root. ref 1 · ref 2 · ref 3 · ref 4 |
live |
| T1505.003 Web Shell | primary impact | This vulnerability is exploited via server-side template injection to achieve remote code execution. This access is then used to establish backdoors. Adversaries have been observed chaining this with CVE-2022-22960 in order to escalate privileges to root. ref 1 · ref 2 · ref 3 |
live |
Detection chain · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2 detection strategies, analytics, log sources
T1221 Template Injection exploitation technique
- DET0566 Template Injection Detection - Windows
AN1564 WindowsDetection of Office or document viewer processes (e.g., winword.exe) initiating network connections to remote templates or executing scripts due to manipulated template references (e.g., embedded in .docx, .rtf, or .dotm files), followed by suspicious child process creation (e.g., PowerShell).Tunable:
TemplateURLPatternsParentProcessTimeWindowChildProcessAnomalyThreshold
Sigma rules tagged attack.t1221 (2)
Author: Sittikorn S
· 2020-05-31 (modified 2023-08-17) · logsource: product=windows category=registry_set · 2d9403d5-7927-46b7-8216-37ab7c9ec5e3
Detects set value ms-msdt MSProtocol URI scheme in Registry that could be an attempt to exploit CVE-2022-30190.
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2022-06-14 · logsource: category=webserver · ada3bc4f-f0fd-42b9-ba91-e105e8af7342
Detects SSTI attempts sent via GET requests in access logs
T1505.003 Web Shell primary impact
- DET0394 Web Shell Detection via Server Behavior and File Execution Chains
AN1108 WindowsUnexpected file creation in web directories followed by web server processes (e.g., w3wp.exe) spawning command shells or script interpreters (e.g., cmd.exe, powershell.exe)NSM:Flow
Inbound HTTP POST with suspicious payload size or user-agent→ DC0085 Network Traffic ContentTunable:WebRootPathParentProcessAN1109 LinuxFile creation of unauthorized script (e.g., .php, .sh) in /var/www/html followed by execution of unexpected system utilities (e.g., curl, bash, nc) by apache/nginxauditd:SYSCALLnew file created in /var/www/html, /srv/http, or similar web root→ DC0039 File CreationNSM:FlowPOST requests to .php, .jsp, .aspx files with high entropy body→ DC0085 Network Traffic ContentTunable:WebRootPathPayloadEntropyThresholdTimeWindowAN1110 macOSWeb servers (e.g., httpd) spawning abnormal processes post file upload into /Library/WebServer/Documents or /usr/local/var/wwwTunable:InterpreterNameExecutionParent
Sigma rules tagged attack.t1505.003 (35)
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
· 2025-07-24 · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 1f0489be-b496-4ddf-b3a9-5900f2044e9c
Detects suspicious file writes to SharePoint layouts directory which could indicate webshell activity or post-exploitation.
This behavior has been observed in the exploitation of SharePoint vulnerabilities such as CVE-2025-49704, CVE-2025-49706 or CVE-2025-53770.
Author: Jason Rathbun (Blackpoint Cyber)
· 2025-04-17 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 2d79e371-2a27-42de-87a4-b4213fc72a6a
Detects unexpected command shell execution (cmd.exe) from w3wp.exe when tied to CentreStack's portal.config, indicating potential exploitation (e.g., CVE-2025-30406)
Author: Cian Heasley
· 2020-08-04 (modified 2023-01-02) · logsource: category=webserver · 2ea44a60-cfda-11ea-87d0-0242ac130003
Certain strings in the uri_query field when combined with null referer and null user agent can indicate activity associated with the webshell ReGeorg.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2019-01-16 (modified 2024-01-18) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 35efb964-e6a5-47ad-bbcd-19661854018d
Detects a program executing from a web server root folder. Use this rule to hunt for potential interesting activity such as webshell or backdoors
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2018-07-22 (modified 2023-01-02) · logsource: category=webserver · 37e8369b-43bb-4bf8-83b6-6dd43bda2000
Detects access to a webshell dropped into a keystore folder on the WebLogic server
Author: Beyu Denis, oscd.community, Tim Shelton, Thurein Oo
· 2019-10-22 (modified 2023-10-15) · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 39f1f9f2-9636-45de-98f6-a4046aa8e4b9
Detects the creation of files with certain extensions on a static web site. This can be indicative of potential uploads of a web shell.
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2023-06-03 (modified 2023-07-28) · logsource: category=webserver · 435e41f2-48eb-4c95-8a2b-ed24b50ec30b
Detects get requests to specific files used during the exploitation of MOVEit CVE-2023-34362
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2022-03-17 (modified 2023-11-09) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 4ebc877f-4612-45cb-b3a5-8e3834db36c9
Detects certain parent child patterns found in cases in which a web shell is used to perform certain credential dumping or exfiltration activities on a compromised system
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Rich Warren, Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems)
· 2021-08-09 (modified 2023-04-30) · logsource: product=windows service=msexchange-management · 516376b4-05cd-4122-bae0-ad7641c38d48
Detects a successful export of an Exchange mailbox to untypical directory or with aspx name suffix which can be used to place a webshell or the needed role assignment for it
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
· 2025-05-14 · logsource: category=webserver · 639b893f-f93a-4e53-a7c8-f08cf73fe7f7
Detects potential Java webshell uploads via HTTP requests with Content-Type 'application/octet-stream' and Java file extensions.
This behavior might indicate exploitation of vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-31324, which allows remote code execution through webshells in SAP NetViewer.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2022-10-04 · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 6b269392-9eba-40b5-acb6-55c882b20ba6
Detects suspicious file type dropped by an Exchange component in IIS
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
· 2022-02-25 · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 7280c9f3-a5af-45d0-916a-bc01cb4151c9
Detects suspicious activity in which the MSExchangeMailboxReplication process writes .asp and .apsx files to disk, which could be a sign of ProxyShell exploitation
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2017-02-19 (modified 2022-11-18) · logsource: category=webserver · 7ff9db12-1b94-4a79-ba68-a2402c5d6729
Detects common commands used in Windows webshells
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2021-10-15 (modified 2026-08-19) · logsource: product=linux category=process_creation · 818f7b24-0fba-4c49-a073-8b755573b9c7
Detects suspicious sub processes of web server processes
Author: Thomas Patzke, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Zach Stanford @svch0st, Tim Shelton, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2019-01-16 (modified 2024-11-26) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 8202070f-edeb-4d31-a010-a26c72ac5600
Detects potentially suspicious processes being spawned by a web server process which could be the result of a successfully placed web shell or exploitation
All 35 rules on the technique page →
Sigma rules tagged with this CVE directly
1 rule carries cve.2022-22954.
Potential CVE-2022-22954 Exploitation Attempt - VMware Workspace ONE Access Remote Code Execution
mediumtest
Author: @kostastsale
· 2022-04-25 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 5660d8db-6e25-411f-b92f-094420168a5d
Detects potential exploitation attempt of CVE-2022-22954, a remote code execution vulnerability in VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager.
As reported by Morphisec, part of the attack chain, threat actors used PowerShell commands that executed as a child processes of the legitimate Tomcat "prunsrv.exe" process application.