CVE-2023-22809: In Sudo before 1.9.12p2, the sudoedit (aka -e) feature mishandles extra arguments passed in the user-provided environ…

Is it exploited?

Reported, not confirmed by CISA. VulnCheck KEV lists it as exploited in the wild. CISA has not added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of 29 Oct 2026.

VulnCheck KEV lists it since 6 Dec 2024. It cites 1 public report, the first from 6 Dec 2024.

• securelist.com

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

55.4%

EPSS score, percentile 99 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.

How severe?

7.8 High

CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record

What should I do?

CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.

Advisories and patches (4)

Which versions are affected?

Not stated. The CVE record gives vendor and product as “n/a” and the version as “unspecified”.

Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of 29 Oct 2026; VulnCheck KEV, as of 30 Oct 2026; FIRST EPSS, as of 29 Oct 2026; CVE List, as of 30 Oct 2026. About the data.

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.

Source: CVE List, as of 30 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

Advisories and patches

• DSA-5321 (Vendor advisory)
• FEDORA-2023-9078f609e6 (Vendor advisory)
• FEDORA-2023-298c136eee (Vendor advisory)
• GLSA-202305-12 (Vendor advisory)

This summary is based on the CVE record as of 30 Oct 2026. Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.

Affected products and versions

The CVE record does not name affected products or versions: vendor and product are “n/a” and the version is “unspecified”.

Source: CVE List, as of 30 Oct 2026. About the data.

Timeline