Is CVE-2023-22809 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2023-22809 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed.

Can CVE-2023-22809 be exploited remotely?

The attack vector of CVE-2023-22809 has not been classified yet.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-22809?

CVE-2023-22809 has not received a CVSS score yet.

HOME VULNERABILITIESCVE-2023-22809

UNKNOWNCISA KEVIN THE WILD

CVE-2023-22809

Published: April 11, 2026

Official 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.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2023-22809 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.

Exploitation requires some privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

CISA has added CVE-2023-22809 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, confirming active exploitation in the wild. U.S. federal agencies are required to patch this within the mandated timeframe, and all organizations should treat remediation as urgent.