KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2022-33891

Apache Spark Shell command injection vulnerability

Apache Software Foundation / Apache Spark · 3.0.3 and earlier to <= 3.0.3

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Severity
CVSS 8.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
93.1%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2022-33891 is a vulnerability affecting Apache Software Foundation Apache Spark. The Apache Spark UI offers the possibility to enable ACLs via the configuration option spark.acls.enable. With an authentication...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Apache Software Foundation / Apache Spark 3.0.3 and earlier to <= 3.0.3.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

The Apache Spark UI offers the possibility to enable ACLs via the configuration option spark.acls.enable

The Apache Spark UI offers the possibility to enable ACLs via the configuration option spark.acls.enable. With an authentication filter, this checks whether a user has access permissions to view or modify the application. If ACLs are enabled, a code path in HttpSecurityFilter can allow someone to perform impersonation by providing an arbitrary user name.

A malicious user might then be able to reach a permission check function that will ultimately build a Unix shell command based on their input, and execute it. This will result in arbitrary shell command execution as the user Spark is currently running as. This affects Apache Spark versions 3.0.3 and earlier, versions 3.1.1 to 3.1.2, and versions 3.2.0 to 3.2.1.

Vendor Product Affected Status
Apache Software Foundation Apache Spark Through 3.0.3 Affected
Apache Software Foundation Apache Spark Through 3.1.2 Affected
Apache Software Foundation Apache Spark Through 3.2.1 Affected
Published
18 Jul 2022
Exploitation Reported
07 Mar 2023
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

metasploit nuclei_scanner cisa apache

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 07 Mar 2023

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 20 Jul 2022

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2023-03-07 00:00 UTC
The Shadowserver 2026-07-05 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

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Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/http/apache_spark_rce_cve_2022_33891.rb 28 Apr 2025
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2022/CVE-2022-33891.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

93.1%

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') CWE-78

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

Apache Spark UI - Remote Command Injection

nuclei · Created Unknown

apache_spark_rce_cve_2022_33891

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2022-33891

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. KEV confirmed by The Shadowserver

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  3. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  4. Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  5. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  6. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  7. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2022-33891

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2022-33891",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 8.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.93076,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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