Vulnerability Report

CVE-2023-22809

Title: Sudo Privilege Escalation via Sudoedit

Privilege Escalation

Proof Of Concept

PoC Available for CVE-2023-22809

CWE Category CWE-269
Published Date Jan 18, 2023
Modified Date Apr 04, 2025
Exploit Status Available
Score 7.8 CVSS v3.1
Exploit Probability (EPSS)
55.37%

Vulnerability Summary

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. 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.

Impacted Vendors

S
sudo_project 1
G
gratisoft 1
T
todd_miller 1

Reference Links

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 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
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity HIGH
7.8
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
NONE
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Severity HIGH
7.8
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
NONE
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Associated Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

Total: Patterns

CVE-2023-22809 Exploits & PoCs (Proof Of Concept)

Exploit-DB https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/51217
View Code
MODIFIED

Vulnerability data or affected products updated.

PUBLISHED

Vulnerability first announced in NVD.

Attack Vector Matrix

Access Vector LOCAL
Complexity LOW
Privileges N/A
Interaction NONE
CVSS Vector String CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Stack

No specific products linked.