Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2022-1040

Sophos Firewall Authentication Bypass

Sophos Firewall · unspecified to <= 18.5 MR3

Watch CVE-2022-1040 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
99.8%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2022-1040 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Sophos Firewall. An authentication bypass vulnerability in the User Portal and Webadmin allows a remote attacker to execute code in Sophos Firewall version...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV.

Who is affected?

Sophos Firewall unspecified to <= 18.5 mr3.

What should we do?

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

Overview

Sophos Firewall Authentication Bypass

An authentication bypass vulnerability in the User Portal and Webadmin allows a remote attacker to execute code in Sophos Firewall version v18.5 MR3 and older.

Sophos Affected
Sophos Firewall
Through 18.5 MR3
Published
25 Mar 2022
Exploitation Reported
31 Mar 2022
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa nuclei_scanner

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian 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 31 Mar 2022

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 06 May 2022

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

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

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2022-03-31 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

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

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

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

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2022/CVE-2022-1040.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

99.8%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Recent mention · SOCRadar

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine’s Defense Industry

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine's Defense Industry TL;DR: OPERATION TALKED is an ongoing Russia-linked espionage campaign, exposed after the actor left their own C2 as an open

Read full advisory

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 9.8 Critical

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

CVSS v2.0 7.5 High

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

All Mentions

Recent mention · SOCRadar

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine’s Defense Industry

SOCRadar · 26 Sep 2026

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine's Defense Industry TL;DR: OPERATION TALKED is an ongoing Russia-linked espionage campaign, exposed after the actor left their own C2 as an open

Recent mention · RecordedFuture

August 2026 CVE Landscape

RecordedFuture · 08 Sep 2026

In August 2026, Insikt Group® identified 73 high-impact vulnerabilities that should be prioritized for remediation, 43 of which had a Very Critical Recorded Future Risk Score. This represents a 14% decrease from last month.

Potential Proof of Concepts

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

Sophos Firewall <=18.5 MR3 - Remote Code Execution

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 14:20 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  4. 12:10 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. 00:00 UTC

    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.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • 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-2022-1040

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2022-1040",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.99796,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}