CVE-2022-29550
** DISPUTED ** An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe"...
An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe" output to the /var/log/qualys/qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log file. This may, for example, unexpectedly write credentials (from environment variables) to disk in cleartext. NOTE: there are no common circumstances in which qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log can be read by a user other than root; however, the file contents could be exposed through site-specific operational practices. The vendor does NOT characterize this as a vulnerability because the ps data collection is intentional, and would only capture credentials on a machine that was already affected by the CWE-214 weakness
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
5.5
An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe" output to the /var/log/qualys/qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log file. This may, for example, unexpectedly write credentials (from environment variables) to disk in cleartext. NOTE: there are no common circumstances in which qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log can be read by a user other than root; however, the file contents could be exposed through site-specific operational practices. The vendor does NOT characterize this as a vulnerability because the ps data collection is intentional, and would only capture credentials on a machine that was already affected by the CWE-214 weakness
- Record
CVE-2022-29550- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe" output to the /var/log/qualys/qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log file. This may, for example, unexpectedly write credentials (from environment variables) to disk in cleartext. NOTE: there are no common circumstances in which qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log can be read by a user other than root; however, the file contents could be exposed through site-specific operational practices. The vendor does NOT characterize this as a vulnerability because the ps data collection is intentional, and would only capture credentials on a machine that was already affected by the CWE-214 weakness
- Record
CVE-2022-29550- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-33885 No score
An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe" output to the /var/log/qualys/qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log file. This may, for example, unexpectedly write credentials (from environment variables) to disk in cleartext. NOTE: there are no common circumstances in which qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log can be read by a user other than root; however, the file contents could be exposed through site-specific operational practices. The vendor does NOT characterize this as a vulnerability because the ps data collection is intentional, and would only capture credentials on a machine that was already affected by the CWE-214 weakness
- Record
EUVD-2022-33885- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-9c2p-jfmw-fgw7
7.5
** DISPUTED ** An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe"...
** DISPUTED ** An issue was discovered in Qualys Cloud Agent 4.8.0-49. It writes "ps auxwwe" output to the /var/log/qualys/qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log file. This may, for example, unexpectedly write credentials (from environment variables) to disk in cleartext. NOTE: there are no common circumstances in which qualys-cloud-agent-scan.log can be read by a user other than root; however, the file contents could be exposed through site-specific operational practices. The vendor does NOT characterize this as a vulnerability because the ps data collection is intentional, and would only capture credentials on a machine that was already affected by the CWE-214 weakness.
- Record
GHSA-9c2p-jfmw-fgw7- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2022-29550 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) in Qualys Cloud Agent, published August 18, 2022. Its validity is disputed. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.40%, the 34th percentile.
References
blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research
blog.qualys.com/product-tech/2022/08/15/qualys-security-updates-cloud-agent-for-linux
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Sep/10
packetstormsecurity.com/files/168367/Qualys-Cloud-Agent-Arbitrary-Code-Execution.html
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-29550
github.com/advisories/GHSA-9c2p-jfmw-fgw7