# 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.

- Page: https://www.vulneraibility.com/cve/CVE-2023-22809
- CVSS: 7.8
- Known exploited: not in CISA KEV as of our last sync
- EPSS: 55.37% (percentile 99.0)
- Public exploit code: 1 on Exploit-DB · 1 Metasploit module · 12 GitHub proofs of concept (first 2023-01-21)
- CISA SSVC: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact total (assessed 2025-04-04)
- Weakness: CWE-269
- Published: 2023-01-18

## Affected

- sudo_project:sudo
- debian:debian_linux
- fedoraproject:fedora
- apple:macos

## References

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

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Summary, impact and action are written by the vulneraibility.com AI analysis pipeline from the CVE record, NVD, CISA and FIRST data; verify against the references.