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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2023-2491 json

A flaw was found in the Emacs text editor.

published 2023-05-17 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-33975

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A flaw was found in the Emacs text editor. Processing a specially crafted org-mode code with the "org-babel-execute:latex" function in ob-latex.el can result in arbitrary command execution. This CVE exists because of a CVE-2023-28617 security regression for the emacs package in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2.

Patch / fix

  • emacs RHEL 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-nox RHEL 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-lucid RHEL 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-common RHEL 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-terminal RHEL 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-filesystem RHEL 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • 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-2023:3104RHSA-2023:2626

  • emacs AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-lucid AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-common AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-terminal AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs-filesystem AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-10.el8_8.2
  • emacs AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-8.el9_2.1
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-8.el9_2.1

almalinux advisories ALSA-2023:3104ALSA-2023:2626

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-2023-2491 updated cvss 7.8

emacs: Regression of CVE-2023-28617 fixes in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) emacs 26.1-10.el8_8.2, emacs-nox 26.1-10.el8_8.2, emacs-lucid 26.1-10.el8_8.2, emacs-common 26.1-10.el8_8.2, emacs-terminal 26.1-10.el8_8.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:3104
  • 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 BaseOS (v. 8) emacs 26.1-10.el8_8.2, emacs-filesystem 26.1-10.el8_8.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:3104
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common, emacs-terminal, emacs-filesystem
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

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
total
Assessed
21 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.46% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

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

Affected products

  • n/a emacs

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-77 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a 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.