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CVE-2022-30333

From Exploited flaws, HARD’s guide to the flaws being used in attacks · Checked
This article is about a flaw in UnRAR. For every flaw being used in attacks, see Exploited flaws; for RARLAB’s, see RARLAB flaws being used in attacks.

CVE-2022-30333 is a security flaw in UnRAR. Attackers can read files on UnRAR that should be out of reach. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added it to its catalog of flaws known to be used in attacks on 9 Aug 2022, and says ransomware gangs have used it.[1]

UnRAR is in things households have, such as phones, computers, browsers and everyday apps, so the fix matters at home as much as at work. RARLAB has published a fix or advice.

Description

CISA calls it a directory traversal in RARLAB UnRAR. In its words: “RARLAB UnRAR on Linux and UNIX contains a directory traversal vulnerability, allowing an attacker to write to files during an extract (unpack) operation.”[1]

The CVE record adds: “RARLAB UnRAR before 6.12 on Linux and UNIX allows directory traversal to write to files during an extract (aka unpack) operation, as demonstrated by creating a ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file. NOTE: WinRAR and Android RAR are unaffected.”[2]

The underlying weakness is path traversal (CWE-22), CWE-59, in MITRE’s list of common software weaknesses.

It scores 7.5 out of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System, which rates it high, scored by NVD using CVSS 3.1.[2]

Affected versions

NVD’s record doesn’t list version ranges for it; RARLAB’s advisory has them[3]. CISA names the product as RARLAB UnRAR.

Every device with UnRAR needs the update.

Exploitation

CISA added it to its catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities on 9 Aug 2022, 92 days after it was made public. CISA lists a flaw only when it has reliable evidence of it being exploited, and gave US federal agencies until 30 Aug 2022 to fix it.[1] CISA says ransomware gangs have used it.

FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System, which estimates how likely a flaw is to be used in attacks in the next 30 days from what it sees across the internet, puts it at 99%. That’s in the top 1% of the flaws it scores.[4]

CISA assesses it as automatable: attackers can run it against many targets at once.

CISA doesn’t say who was attacked, or how.

Fix

RARLAB has published a fix or advice.[3] CISA’s required action: “Apply updates per vendor instructions.”[1]

  1. Update UnRAR now.Install the latest update from RARLAB on every device that has it, and restart when asked. Then turn on automatic updates, so the next fix arrives on its own.
  2. If there’s no update, stop using it.CISA’s advice when a flaw being used in attacks has no fix is to stop using the product until it does.

Timeline

DateEvent
The flaw is made public in the National Vulnerability Database, with a severity score of 7.5.[2]
CISA adds it to its catalog of flaws known to be used in attacks, noting that ransomware gangs have used it.[1]
CISA’s deadline for US government agencies to fix it.[1]
FIRST puts the odds of it being used in attacks in the next 30 days at 99%.[4]

See also

Other RARLAB flaws

Other path traversal flaws

  • CVE-2025-61624, Fortinet products: path traversal ·
  • CVE-2021-3199, ONLYOFFICE Docs: server path traversal ·
  • CVE-2026-104286, Fortinet FortiMail: path traversal ·
  • CVE-2026-93616, Check Point products: path traversal ·
  • CVE-2026-66384, JFrog Artifactory: improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory ·

Added the same day

  • CVE-2022-34713, Microsoft Windows: support diagnostic tool (MSDT) remote code execution ·

Every RARLAB flaw on CISA’s list · Everything added in August 2022

References

  1. ^ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “RARLAB UnRAR Directory Traversal Vulnerability”. Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, added 9 Aug 2022.
  2. ^ National Institute of Standards and Technology. “CVE-2022-30333 Detail”. National Vulnerability Database, published 9 May 2022.
  3. ^ RARLAB. Advisories and fixes: rarlab.com.
  4. ^ FIRST. “Exploit Prediction Scoring System”. EPSS 0.992, percentile 99.9, 31 Oct 2026.
  5. CVE Program. “CVE-2022-30333”. The official CVE record.

This article is built from CISA’s catalog (version 2026.10.30), NVD’s record and FIRST’s scores, kept in HARD’s database and checked every morning. The plain English is HARD’s.