VDB-340986 · CVE-2022-50917 · Exploit 50837

ProtonVPN 1.26.0 WireGuard Service unquoted search path

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
7.3	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in ProtonVPN 1.26.0. This affects an unknown function of the component WireGuard Service. The manipulation results in unquoted search path. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2022-50917. The attack is only possible with local access. Additionally, an exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in ProtonVPN 1.26.0. Affected is some unknown functionality of the component WireGuard Service. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a unquoted search path vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-428. The product uses a search path that contains an unquoted element, in which the element contains whitespace or other separators. This can cause the product to access resources in a parent path. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

ProtonVPN 1.26.0 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability in its WireGuard service configuration that allows local attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code. Attackers can exploit the unquoted path by placing malicious executables in specific file system locations to gain elevated privileges during service startup.

The weakness was released by gemreda as 50837. The advisory is available at exploit-db.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2022-50917 since 01/11/2026. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Local access is required to approach this attack. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. This vulnerability is assigned to T1574.009 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

The exploit is shared for download at exploit-db.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Exploit-DB (50837). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Name

ProtonVPN

Version

1.26.0

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA CVSS-B Score: 🔒
CNA CVSS-BT Score: 🔒
CNA Vector: 🔒

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.3

VulDB Base Score: 7.0
VulDB Temp Score: 6.4
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 7.8
NVD Vector: 🔒

CNA Base Score: 7.8
CNA Vector (VulnCheck): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
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💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
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Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Unquoted search path
CWE: CWE-428 / CWE-426
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Download: 🔒

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Exploit-DB: 🔒

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

01/11/2026 CVE reserved
01/14/2026 +3 days Advisory disclosed
01/14/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
03/02/2026 +47 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: 50837
Researcher: gemreda
Status: Not defined

CVE: CVE-2022-50917 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2022-50917
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-340986
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 01/14/2026 08:27
Updated: 03/02/2026 23:55
Changes: 01/14/2026 08:27 (79), 02/27/2026 21:34 (10), 03/02/2026 23:55 (4)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.