# CVE-2022-23397: Cedar Gate EZ-NET portal - XSS

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2022-23397 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2022-23397

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 6.1
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** EZ-NET Cedar Gate Portal
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting'))

## Description

The Cedar Gate EZ-NET portal 6.5.5 6.8.0 Internet portal has a call to display messages to users which does not properly sanitize data sent in through a URL parameter. This leads to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability. NOTE: the vendor disputes this because the ado.im reference has "no clear steps of reproduction."

## CrowdSec analysis

[This vulnerability](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2022-23397) affects the Cedar Gate EZ-NET portal versions 6.5.5 and 6.8.0, where improper sanitization of URL parameters leads to a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw. Attackers could exploit this issue to inject malicious scripts, potentially stealing user credentials or performing actions on behalf of unsuspecting users. Although the vendor disputes the vulnerability due to unclear reproduction steps, the risk of XSS attacks remains a concern for affected deployments.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 16th of July 2025.

CrowdSec network observations suggest that most exploitation of CVE-2022-23397 involves focused reconnaissance to identify viable targets. Attackers typically tailor their campaigns based on system exposure and configuration. It is unlikely that a given attack is accidental.
Telemetry from the CrowdSec network also shows that exploitation activity for CVE-2022-23397 remains steady week-over-week. Attack volumes are consistent with long-term trends, indicating sustained interest from threat actors. CVE-2022-23397 continues to be an active part of the threat landscape and will likely remain this way for the forseeable future.

Attackers exploit this vulnerability by injecting HTML tags (such as `<img ...>`) into the `Usertext` parameter of `/EZ-NET60/AlertMessages.aspx`, leading to reflected cross-site scripting.

## Timeline

- 2022-03-04: CVE Published. CVE-2022-23397 is published to NVD.
- 2025-07-16: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2022-23397 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2025-07-22: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2022-23397 for the first time.

## References

- https://ado.im/cedar-gate-ez-net
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2022/CVE-2022-23397.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2022-23397) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2022-23397. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.