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.
Published: 2023-01-18
Score: 7.8 High
EPSS: 48.0% Moderate
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

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Tracking

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-3272-1 sudo security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-5321-1 sudo security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-5811-1 Sudo vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-5811-2 Sudo vulnerability
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-5811-3 Sudo vulnerability
History

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics epss

{'score': 0.50157}

epss

{'score': 0.5074}


Sun, 13 Jul 2025 13:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics epss

{'score': 0.43244}

epss

{'score': 0.50157}


Fri, 04 Apr 2025 16:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Subscriptions

Apple Macos
Debian Debian Linux
Fedoraproject Fedora
Redhat Enterprise Linux Rhel Aus Rhel E4s Rhel Els Rhel Eus Rhel Tus Rhev Hypervisor
Sudo Project Sudo
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: mitre

Published:

Updated: 2025-04-04T15:45:24.835Z

Reserved: 2023-01-06T00:00:00.000Z

Link: CVE-2023-22809

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2024-08-02T10:20:30.856Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Modified

Published: 2023-01-18T17:15:10.353

Modified: 2025-04-04T16:15:16.850

Link: CVE-2023-22809

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Important

Publid Date: 2023-01-18T15:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2023-22809 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses