CVE-2023-22809
In Sudo before 1.9.12p2, the sudoedit (aka -e) feature mishandles extra arguments passed in the user-provided environment variables (SUDO_EDITOR, VISUAL, and EDITOR), allowing a local attacker to append arbitrary entries to the list of files to process.
Does this matter?
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 55.4%, higher than 99% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.
Description
In Sudo before 1.9.12p2, the sudoedit (aka -e) feature mishandles extra arguments passed in the user-provided environment variables (SUDO_EDITOR, VISUAL, and EDITOR), allowing a local attacker to append arbitrary entries to the list of files to process. This can lead to privilege escalation. Affected versions are 1.8.0 through 1.9.12.p1. The problem exists because a user-specified editor may contain a "--" argument that defeats a protection mechanism, e.g., an EDITOR='vim -- /path/to/extra/file' value.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 55.37% probability · 99th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · first 3 April 2023
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-269
- Affected
- sudo project/sudo · debian/debian linux · fedoraproject/fedora · apple/macos
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 55.4% since 3 November 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/Mailing List
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/Mailing List
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12Third Party Advisory
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/Third Party Advisory
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321Third Party Advisory
- https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdfExploit, Mitigation, Technical Description, Third Party Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/Mailing List
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/Mailing List
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12Third Party Advisory
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/Third Party Advisory
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321Third Party Advisory
- https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdfExploit, Mitigation, Technical Description, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.