CVE-2023-22809 EXPLOIT
7.8
HIGH · CVSS 3.1 · EPSS 55.4% (pctl 99)
Patch early
A public exploit exists.
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.
Scoring
| CVSS | 7.8 (HIGH, v3.1) |
|---|---|
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| EPSS | 55.37% — more likely to be exploited than 99% of all CVEs |
| Weakness | CWE-269 |
| On CISA KEV | no |
| Public exploit | yes |
| Published | 2023-01-18 |
| Last modified | 2026-06-17 |
Affected (4)
| Vendor | Product |
|---|---|
| apple | macos |
| debian | debian linux |
| fedoraproject | fedora |
| sudo project | sudo |
Public exploits
| Source | Title | Date |
|---|---|---|
| exploit-db | sudo 1.8.0 to 1.9.12p1 - Privilege Escalation | 2023-04-03 |
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321
- https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/
- https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html
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