Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Jan 18, 2023· Updated Apr 4, 2025
CVE-2023-22809
CVE-2023-22809
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.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Affected products
37- Sudo/Sudodescription
- osv-coords35 versionspkg:rpm/almalinux/sudopkg:rpm/almalinux/sudo-python-pluginpkg:rpm/opensuse/sudo&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.4pkg:rpm/opensuse/sudo&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%20Micro%205.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/sudo&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%20Micro%205.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/sudo&distro=openSUSE%20Tumbleweedpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Enterprise%20Storage%206pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Enterprise%20Storage%207pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Enterprise%20Storage%207.1pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015%20SP1-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015%20SP2-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015%20SP3-ESPOSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015%20SP3-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.1pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.2pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.3pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Basesystem%2015%20SP4pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Real%20Time%2015%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP2-BCLpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP4-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2015%20SP1-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2015%20SP2-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2015%20SP3-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2012%20SP4pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2015%20SP1pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2015%20SP2pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2015%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Software%20Development%20Kit%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Manager%20Proxy%204.2pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Manager%20Retail%20Branch%20Server%204.2pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20Manager%20Server%204.2pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20OpenStack%20Cloud%209pkg:rpm/suse/sudo&distro=SUSE%20OpenStack%20Cloud%20Crowbar%209
< 1.9.5p2-7.el9_1.1+ 34 more
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-7.el9_1.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-7.el9_1.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.9-150400.4.12.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.9-150400.4.12.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.12p2-1.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.9-150400.4.12.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.9-150400.4.12.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.10p3-10.44.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.20p2-3.36.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-4.33.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.20p2-3.36.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-4.33.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-150000.4.38.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.27-4.33.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.9.5p2-150300.3.19.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.20p2-3.36.1
- (no CPE)range: < 1.8.20p2-3.36.1
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
References
14- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2QDGFCGAV5QRJCE6IXRXIS4XJHS57DDH/mitrevendor-advisory
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4YNBTTKTRT2ME3NTSXAPTOKYUE47XHZ/mitrevendor-advisory
- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12mitrevendor-advisory
- www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321mitrevendor-advisory
- seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Aug/21mitremailing-list
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1mitremailing-list
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.htmlmitremailing-list
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.htmlmitre
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/172509/Sudoedit-Extra-Arguments-Privilege-Escalation.htmlmitre
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/174234/Cisco-ThousandEyes-Enterprise-Agent-Virtual-Appliance-Arbitrary-File-Modification.htmlmitre
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/mitre
- support.apple.com/kb/HT213758mitre
- www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/mitre
- www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdfmitre
News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.