CVE-2022-23853

The LSP (Language Server Protocol) plugin in KDE Kate before 21.12.2 and KTextEditor before 5.91.0 tries to execute the associated LSP server binary when opening a file of a given type. If this binary is absent from the PATH, it will try running the LSP server binary in the directory of the file that was just opened (due to a misunderstanding of the QProcess API, that was never intended). This can be an untrusted directory.

Published: 2022-02-11 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-23853 is rated Moderate Risk (45.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.19%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-23853

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 0.28% 0.19% -0.09%
2 2025-11-18 0.19% 0.28% +0.09%
3 2025-08-02 — 0.19% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-23853

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-23853

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-23853

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-23853 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (kate, ktexteditor), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 8, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-23853
gentoo normal CVE-2022-23853: 1 GLSA(s) (202401-21), 1 atom(s) (kde-frameworks/ktexteditor); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-23853
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-23853/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-23853 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (kate, ktexteditor), 28 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 14, needs-triage 14. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-23853

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-23853

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
kde kate < 21.12.2 cpe:2.3:a:kde:kate:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kde ktexteditor < 5.91.0 cpe:2.3:a:kde:ktexteditor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-23853

cvelogic Threat Intelligence