CVE-2022-38392Public exploit

System crashes via hard-drive acoustic resonance

Published Aug 17, 2022 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Denial of service in certain 5400 RPM hard drives from approximately 2005 onward allows physically proximate attackers to crash PCs. Acoustic energy at a drive's natural resonant frequency induces mechanical vibration that causes the drive to malfunction during operation. Audible playback near an affected laptop, including from a separate nearby device, can crash the laptop; no data corruption is documented.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.43%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in certain 5400 RPM hard drives from approximately 2005 onward allows physically proximate attackers to crash PCs. Acoustic energy at a drive's natural resonant frequency induces mechanical vibration that causes the drive to malfunction during operation. Audible playback near an affected laptop, including from a separate nearby device, can crash the laptop; no data corruption is documented.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-38392
Published
Aug 17, 2022
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
T1499
Attack vector
physical
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 17, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorphysical
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.3MITRE CorporationCVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:P/A:H/C:N/I:N/PR:N/S:C/UI:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorphysical
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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