What is CVE-2022-40978?

CVE-2022-40978 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jetbrains Intellij Idea, classified under Uncontrolled Search Path Element. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2022-09-19.

How severe is CVE-2022-40978?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Jetbrains Intellij Idea

CVE-2022-40978

The installer of JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA before 2022.2.2 was vulnerable to EXE search order hijacking

Published 2022-09-19 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (16.6th percentile), scored 2026-10-20.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 17th percentile — 16.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: -0.000

Affected products

Jetbrains Intellij Idea — versions 2022.2.2
Jetbrains Intellij Idea

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-427 — Uncontrolled Search Path Element

References

www.jetbrains.com/privacy-security/issues-fixed/ (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-40978?: CVE-2022-40978 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jetbrains Intellij Idea, classified under Uncontrolled Search Path Element. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2022-09-19.
How severe is CVE-2022-40978?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.