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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.8

CVE-2022-48337 json

GNU Emacs through 28.2 allows attackers to execute commands via shell metacharacters in the name of a source-code file, because lib-src/eta…

published 2023-02-20 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2022-51037

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.6%
EPSS 1.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 76%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

GNU Emacs through 28.2 allows attackers to execute commands via shell metacharacters in the name of a source-code file, because lib-src/etags.c uses the system C library function in its implementation of the etags program. For example, a victim may use the "etags -u *" command (suggested in the etags documentation) in a situation where the current working directory has contents that depend on untrusted input.

Patch / fix

  • emacs Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1:28.2+1-11

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48337

  • emacs Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 1:27.1+1-3ubuntu5.2
  • emacs Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 1:26.3+1-1ubuntu2+esm1
  • emacs24 Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 24.5+1-6ubuntu1.1+esm4
  • emacs25 Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 25.2+1-6ubuntu0.1~esm2

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48337

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

  • emacs RHEL 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-nox RHEL 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-lucid RHEL 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-common RHEL 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-terminal RHEL 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-filesystem RHEL 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs RHEL 9 1:27.2-8.el9_2.1
  • emacs-nox RHEL 9 1:27.2-8.el9_2.1

red hat advisories RHSA-2024:1408RHSA-2024:1103RHSA-2023:7083RHSA-2023:2626

  • emacs SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES for SAP 15 SP1 +12 more 25.3-150000.3.15.1
  • emacs SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP4, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP4, openSUSE Leap 15.4 27.2-150400.3.6.1
  • emacs SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES 12 SP5 +5 more 24.3-25.12.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:0675-1SUSE-SU-2023:0598-1SUSE-SU-2023:0597-1

  • emacs openSUSE Tumbleweed 28.2-2.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:12721-1

  • emacs AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-lucid AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-common AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-terminal AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs-filesystem AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-11.el8
  • emacs AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-8.el9_2.1
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-8.el9_2.1

almalinux advisories ALSA-2023:7083ALSA-2023:2626

  • emacs Rocky Linux 8 1:26.1-11.el8

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2023:7083

  • emacs CBL-Mariner 2.0 28.2-4

azure linux advisories AZL-13702

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-2022-48337 updated cvss 7.3

emacs: command execution via shell metacharacters

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common, emacs-terminal, emacs-filesystem
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) emacs 26.1-11.el8, emacs-nox 26.1-11.el8, emacs-lucid 26.1-11.el8, emacs-common 26.1-11.el8, emacs-terminal 26.1-11.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:7083
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) emacs 27.2-8.el9_2.1, emacs-nox 27.2-8.el9_2.1, emacs-lucid 27.2-8.el9_2.1, emacs-common 27.2-8.el9_2.1, emacs-filesystem 27.2-8.el9_2.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:2626
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.8.6) emacs 26.1-7.el8_6.3, emacs-nox 26.1-7.el8_6.3, emacs-lucid 26.1-7.el8_6.3, emacs-common 26.1-7.el8_6.3, emacs-terminal 26.1-7.el8_6.3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:1103
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.8.8) emacs 26.1-10.el8_8.4, emacs-nox 26.1-10.el8_8.4, emacs-lucid 26.1-10.el8_8.4, emacs-common 26.1-10.el8_8.4, emacs-terminal 26.1-10.el8_8.4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:1408
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) emacs 26.1-11.el8, emacs-filesystem 26.1-11.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:7083
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.6) emacs 26.1-7.el8_6.3, emacs-filesystem 26.1-7.el8_6.3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:1103
show 1 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.8) emacs 26.1-10.el8_8.4, emacs-filesystem 26.1-10.el8_8.4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:1408

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
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
19 mo ago

Exploit prediction

1.62% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 76% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.