Description
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.
References (2)
Core 2
Core References
Exploit, Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/ctags/code/HEAD/tree/tags/ctags-5.8/sort.c#l56
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00040.html
Scores
CVSS v3
7.8
EPSS
0.0073
EPSS Percentile
73.0%
Attack Vector
LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA SSVC
Vulnrichment
Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical Impact
partial
Details
CWE
CWE-78
Status
published
Products (2)
debian/debian_linux
10.0
exuberant_ctags_project/exuberant_ctags
Published
Dec 20, 2022
Tracked Since
Feb 18, 2026