Vulnerability identifier: #VU71332

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 7.2 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2023-22809

CWE-ID: CWE-20

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: Yes

Vulnerable software:
Sudo
Client/Desktop applications / Software for system administration

Vendor: Sudo

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists within the sudoedit (aka -e) feature due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input passed in the user-provided environment variables (SUDO_EDITOR, VISUAL, and EDITOR). 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. A local user can append arbitrary entries to the list of files to process and escalate privileges on the system.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Sudo: 1.3.1 - 1.9.12p1

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External links
http://www.synacktiv.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/sudo-CVE-2023-22809.pdf
http://www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/sudoedit_any/
http://korelogic.com/Resources/Advisories/KL-001-2023-003.txt

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, a fully functional exploit for this vulnerability is available.