🛡️ CVE-2023-22809 — debian-linux

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ⚠️ Exploit Public CWE-269 NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

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.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

Weakness class

CVE-2023-22809 is classified as CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management. Privileges are assigned, dropped or restored incorrectly, leaving an actor with more access than intended.

Affected software

CVE-2023-22809 is recorded against 4 packages.

  • debian-linux
  • fedora
  • macos (fixed in 13.4)
  • sudo

Timeline and source

Published on 18 January 2023 and last revised on 17 June 2026. A public exploit is known to exist, which raises the urgency of patching considerably. Record sourced from NVD.

References

packetstormsecurity.com
packetstormsecurity.com
packetstormsecurity.com
seclists.org
www.openwall.com
lists.debian.org
lists.fedoraproject.org
lists.fedoraproject.org
security.gentoo.org
security.netapp.com
support.apple.com
www.debian.org
www.sudo.ws
www.synacktiv.com
packetstormsecurity.com

CVE-2023-22809 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE CWE-269
Public Exploit ⚠️ Yes
Source NVD
Published 2023-01-18
Updated 2026-08-11
Modified 2026-06-17
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
debian-linux — —
fedora — —
macos — 13.4
sudo — —

References

Mailing List, Third Party Advisory http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21
Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1
Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/
Exploit, Mitigation, Technical Description, Third Party Advisory https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21
Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1
Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/
Exploit, Mitigation, Technical Description, Third Party Advisory https://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf

Similar Threats

Exploit Protection

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