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
EPSS: 0.554 (99.0th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
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.
Affected products
- Apple Macos
- Sudo_project Sudo — versions 1.9.12
- Debian Debian_linux — versions 10.0, 11.0
- Fedoraproject Fedora — versions 36, 37
- N/a — versions n/a
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
- n3m1sys/CVE-2023-22809-sudoedit-privesc
- asepsaepdin/CVE-2023-22809
- P4x1s/CVE-2023-22809-sudo-POC
- M4fiaB0y/CVE-2023-22809
- D0rDa4aN919/CVE-2023-22809-Exploiter
- Toothless5143/CVE-2023-22809
- Chan9Yan9/CVE-2023-22809
- Spydomain/CVE-2023-22809-automated-python-exploits
- ValeuDoamne/CVE-2023-22809
- laxmiyamkolu/SUDO-privilege-escalation
References
- cve@mitre.org (Technical Description, Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitigation)
- cve@mitre.org (Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
- cve@mitre.org (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
- cve@mitre.org (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
- cve@mitre.org (mailing-list, Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
- cve@mitre.org (vendor-advisory, Mailing List)
- cve@mitre.org (Third Party Advisory)
- cve@mitre.org (vendor-advisory, Mailing List)
- cve@mitre.org (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
- cve@mitre.org (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.