CVE-2023-22809
HIGH 7.8EPSS 55.4%
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.
- CVSS v3.1 NVD
- 7.8 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - EPSS
- 55.37% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, 99th percentile
- Published
- 2023-01-18
- Updated
- 2025-04-04
Proof-of-concept exploits (18)
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1
- 3yujw7njai/CVE-2023-22809-sudo-POC6★ · 2023-04-06
- AiK1d/CVE-2023-22809-sudo-POC6★ · 2023-04-06
- CKevens/CVE-2023-22809-sudo-POC6★ · 2023-04-06
- Chan9Yan9/CVE-2023-228092★ · 2023-06-20
- D0rDa4aN919/CVE-2023-22809-Exploiter2★ · 2024-09-06
- M4fiaB0y/CVE-2023-228096★ · 2023-02-22
- P4x1s/CVE-2023-22809-sudo-POC6★ · 2023-04-06
- Spydomain/CVE-2023-22809-automated-python-exploits1★ · 2025-08-12
- Toothless5143/CVE-2023-228092★ · 2023-09-03
- asepsaepdin/CVE-2023-228096★ · 2023-07-13
- laxmiyamkolu/SUDO-privilege-escalation0★ · 2024-08-26
- n3m1dotsys/CVE-2023-22809-sudoedit-privesc164★ · 2023-02-15
- n3m1sys/CVE-2023-22809-sudoedit-privesc164★ · 2023-02-15
- pashayogi/CVE-2023-228090★ · 2023-06-25
- spidoman/CVE-2023-22809-automated-python-exploits1★ · 2025-08-12
- stefan11111/rdoedit3★ · 2024-09-06
- ValeuDoamne/CVE-2023-228091★ · 2026-01-20
Metasploit modules (1)
ExploitDB entries (1)
Security advisories
- https://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation…
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-A…
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html
- 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.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf