What is CVE-2023-22809?

CVE-2023-22809 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple macOS, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2023-01-18.

How severe is CVE-2023-22809?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2023-22809 known to be exploited?

81 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Privilege escalation in Apple macOS

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.

Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation

Published 2023-01-18 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.554 (99.0th percentile), scored 2026-10-30.

High probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — patch promptly. 99th percentile — 99.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.554 · newest: 0.554 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Apple macOS
Sudo Project — versions 1.9.12
Debian Linux — versions 10.0, 11.0
Fedoraproject Fedora — versions 36, 37

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-269 — Improper Privilege Management

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf (Technical Description, Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitigation)
www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/ (Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00012.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5321 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/19/1 (mailing-list, Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory, Mailing List)
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230127-0015/ (Third Party Advisory)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory, Mailing List)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/171644/sudo-1.9.12p1-Privilege-Escalation.html (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-12 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-22809?: CVE-2023-22809 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple macOS, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2023-01-18.
How severe is CVE-2023-22809?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2023-22809 known to be exploited?: 81 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.