{
    "id": "CVE-2023-22809",
    "published": "2023-01-18 17:15:10",
    "last_modified": "2026-06-17 05:36:13",
    "cvss_score": "7.8",
    "cvss_severity": "HIGH",
    "cvss_version": "3.1",
    "cvss_vector": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
    "cwe": "CWE-269",
    "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.",
    "epss_score": "0.55367",
    "epss_percentile": "0.99004",
    "kev": 0,
    "kev_due": null,
    "has_exploit": 1,
    "updated_at": "2026-09-27 18:17:36",
    "priority": {
        "rank": 2,
        "label": "Patch early",
        "why": "A public exploit exists."
    },
    "products": [
        {
            "vendor": "apple",
            "product": "macos"
        },
        {
            "vendor": "debian",
            "product": "debian_linux"
        },
        {
            "vendor": "fedoraproject",
            "product": "fedora"
        },
        {
            "vendor": "sudo_project",
            "product": "sudo"
        }
    ],
    "kev_detail": null,
    "exploits": [
        {
            "source": "exploit-db",
            "ref_id": "51217",
            "title": "sudo 1.8.0 to 1.9.12p1 - Privilege Escalation",
            "date": "2023-04-03",
            "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/51217"
        }
    ],
    "refs_list": [
        "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",
        "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"
    ]
}