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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2022-4515 json

A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the "-o" option.

published 2022-12-20 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2022-51855

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.6%
EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 49%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the "-o" option. This option specifies the tag filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an unsafe way.

Patch / fix

  • exuberant-ctags Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1:5.9~svn20110310-18

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2022-4515

  • exuberant-ctags Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 1:5.9~svn20110310-11ubuntu0.1
  • exuberant-ctags Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 1:5.9~svn20110310-12ubuntu0.1
  • exuberant-ctags Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 1:5.9~svn20110310-16ubuntu0.22.04.1
  • exuberant-ctags Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 1:5.9~svn20110310-11ubuntu0.1~esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2022-4515

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • ctags RHEL 8 5.8-23.el8
  • ctags-etags RHEL 8 5.8-23.el8

red hat advisories RHSA-2023:2863

  • ctags SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES for SAP 15 SP1 +13 more 5.8-150000.3.3.1
  • ctags SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES 12 SP5 +4 more 5.8-8.3.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:0225-1SUSE-SU-2023:0224-1

  • ctags openSUSE Tumbleweed 5.8-12.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:12624-1

  • ctags AlmaLinux 8 5.8-23.el8
  • ctags-etags AlmaLinux 8 5.8-23.el8

almalinux advisories ALSA-2023:2863

  • ctags Rocky Linux 8 5.8-23.el8

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2023:2863

  • ctags CBL-Mariner 2.0 5.9.20220619.0-7
  • ctags Azure Linux 3.0 6.1.0-1

azure linux advisories AZL-12083AZL-34647

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2022-4515 updated cvss 7.8

ctags: arbitrary command execution via a tag file with a crafted filename

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 ctags, ctags-etags Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 ctags, ctags-etags
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) ctags 5.8-23.el8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) ctags-etags 5.8-23.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:2863

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
18 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.61% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 49% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • sourceforge.net https://sourceforge.net/p/ctags/code/HEAD/tree/tags/ctags-5.8/sort.c#l56 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • n/a Exuberant Ctags

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.