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7.8
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2023-22809
Sudo Editor Argument Injection Vulnerability
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.

INFO

Published Date :

Jan. 18, 2023, 5:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

April 4, 2025, 4:15 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

[email protected]
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2023-22809 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Fedoraproject fedora
1 Debian debian_linux
1 Apple macos
1 Sudo_project sudo
: Total Affected Vendor : 4 | Products : 4
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
CVSS 3.1 HIGH 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Solution
A vulnerability in sudo allows local attackers to inject arguments via environment variables, potentially leading to privilege escalation; updating the sudo packages to a patched version is recommended.
  • Update the sudo packages.
  • If applicable, consult your vendor's security advisory for specific remediation steps.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2023-22809 has a 55 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2023-22809.

URL Resource
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1 Exploit Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html Mailing 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/202305-12 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/ Third Party Advisory
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321 Third 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.pdf Exploit Mitigation Technical Description Third Party Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1 Exploit Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html Mailing 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/202305-12 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/ Third Party Advisory
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321 Third 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.pdf Exploit Mitigation Technical Description Third Party Advisory
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2023-22809 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2023-22809 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Profile Photo
zhanpengliu-tencent/medium-cve

None

Updated: 1 week, 2 days ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Aug. 15, 2025, 9:07 a.m. This repo has been linked 310 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
lineeralgebra/My-Favorite-Boxes

None

Updated: 2 weeks, 4 days ago
3 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Aug. 4, 2025, 7:47 p.m. This repo has been linked 5 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
Spydomain/CVE-2023-22809-automated-python-exploits

Automates vulnerability check for sudo versions and privilege escalation via sudoedit if exploitable, helping users test and gain root access.

Python

Updated: 1 week, 5 days ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 30, 2025, 9:48 a.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
Jalexander798/JA_Tools-Cybersecurity-Resource-2

None

Updated: 4 weeks, 1 day ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 25, 2025, 7:02 p.m. This repo has been linked 96 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
jitmondal1/OSCP

OSCP Cheat Sheet

Updated: 1 month ago
1 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 5, 2025, 10:38 p.m. This repo has been linked 73 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
jitmondal1/OSCP

OSCP Cheat Sheet

Updated: 1 month, 2 weeks ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 5, 2025, 4:34 p.m. This repo has been linked 73 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
sandinak/sudosh

Tool for running commands like 'sudo sh' but logged and validated.

Makefile C Roff Shell Python

Updated: 19 hours, 15 minutes ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 2, 2025, 7:30 p.m. This repo has been linked 6 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
VishuGahlyan/OSCP

None

Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 2, 2025, 7:05 a.m. This repo has been linked 72 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
bachkhoasoft/awesome-list-ks

None

Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : June 29, 2025, 6:30 a.m. This repo has been linked 94 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
AMatheusFeitosaM/OSCP-Cheat

OSCP Cheat

Updated: 2 months, 1 week ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : June 16, 2025, 2:22 p.m. This repo has been linked 72 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
zulloper/cve-poc

CVE POC repo 자동 수집기

Python

Updated: 15 hours, 32 minutes ago
0 stars 1 fork 1 watcher
Born at : June 8, 2025, 3:07 p.m. This repo has been linked 125 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
mikuyaQAQ/23NBugRange

None

Dockerfile HTML Batchfile Shell Scheme FreeMarker CSS AMPL Python Ruby

Updated: 5 months ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : March 17, 2025, 8:45 a.m. This repo has been linked 6 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
ArtemCyberLab/Project-Vulnerability-Research-and-Privilege-Escalation

I worked on a project focused on exploring vulnerabilities within a virtual machine as part of the TryHackMe platform.

Updated: 6 months, 3 weeks ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Jan. 31, 2025, 11:17 p.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
alarmant0/Vulnerability-Assessment-ISCTE

Penetration testing report for the fictitious company BLACKHOLE Inc., developed as part of a Cybersecurity course at ISCTE.

Updated: 3 months, 2 weeks ago
1 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Jan. 22, 2025, 6:42 p.m. This repo has been linked 2 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
fazilbaig1/oscp

oscp notes

Updated: 4 months, 3 weeks ago
1 stars 1 fork 1 watcher
Born at : Dec. 9, 2024, 6:26 p.m. This repo has been linked 66 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2023-22809 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

  • Daily CyberSecurity
ScriptCase Flaws (CVE-2025-47227/47228): Pre-Auth RCE & Admin Takeover Risk for Web Servers, PoC Published

In a recent security advisory, researchers from Synacktiv revealed two chained vulnerabilities in ScriptCase’s Production Environment module—known as the “prod console”—that can lead to pre-authentica ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 07, 2025 (1 month, 2 weeks ago)
  • Kaspersky
Exploits and vulnerabilities in Q3 2024

Q3 2024 saw multiple vulnerabilities discovered in Windows and Linux subsystems that are not standard for cyberattacks. This is because operating system developers have been releasing new security mit ... Read more

Published Date: Dec 06, 2024 (8 months, 2 weeks ago)

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2023-22809 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Apr. 04, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-269
  • CVE Modified by af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    Nov. 21, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html
    Added Reference http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html
    Added Reference http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html
    Added Reference http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21
    Added Reference http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1
    Added Reference https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html
    Added Reference https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/
    Added Reference https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12
    Added Reference https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/
    Added Reference https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758
    Added Reference https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321
    Added Reference https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/
    Added Reference https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 14, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Nov. 17, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Reference Type http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html No Types Assigned http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
    Changed Reference Type http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html No Types Assigned http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
    Changed Reference Type http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html No Types Assigned http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
    Changed Reference Type http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21 No Types Assigned http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/ No Types Assigned https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/ Mailing List
    Changed Reference Type https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/ No Types Assigned https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/ Mailing List
    Changed Reference Type https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12 No Types Assigned https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12 Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758 No Types Assigned https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758 Third Party Advisory
    Changed CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:* OR *cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 13.4
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Nov. 07, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference MITRE https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/ [No types assigned]
    Added Reference MITRE https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/ [No types assigned]
    Removed Reference MITRE https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/
    Removed Reference MITRE https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Sep. 06, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213758 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Aug. 18, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.html [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Aug. 17, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 23, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.html [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 03, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Apr. 03, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Feb. 05, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/ [No Types Assigned]
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Jan. 31, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Reference Type https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/ No Types Assigned https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/ Third Party Advisory
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jan. 27, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/ [No Types Assigned]
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Jan. 26, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 NIST AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Changed Reference Type http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1 No Types Assigned http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1 Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html No Types Assigned https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/ No Types Assigned https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/ Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321 No Types Assigned https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321 Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/ No Types Assigned https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/ Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf No Types Assigned https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf Exploit, Mitigation, Technical Description, Third Party Advisory
    Added CWE NIST CWE-269
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 1.8.0 up to (excluding) 1.9.12 *cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:1.9.12:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:1.9.12:p1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jan. 22, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/ [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jan. 19, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jan. 19, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jan. 18, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html [No Types Assigned]
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 7.8
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact
Exploit Prediction

EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days.

43.84 }} -6.90%

score

0.97435

percentile