CVE-2022-48337

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.

Published: 2023-02-20 Last update: 2025-03-18 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-48337 is rated Moderate Risk (61.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.45%). 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-2022-48337

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 2026-04-06 0.52% 0.45% -0.07%
2 2026-03-10 0.44% 0.52% +0.07%
3 2026-03-04 — 0.44% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-48337

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
 3.9 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-48337

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-48337

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2022-48337: 1 source package rows (emacs); 11 state rows across 3 repos (3.18-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 11. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-48337
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-48337 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (emacs), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-48337
gentoo high CVE-2022-48337: 1 GLSA(s) (202407-08), 2 atom(s) (app-editors/emacs, app-emacs/org-mode); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-48337
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-48337
suse high CVE-2022-48337 severity important: SUSE including 48 source package names (emacs-22.3-42.12.1, emacs-24.3-25.12.1, …), 225 product×package rows across 42 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7, … (42 product lines)): Fixed 225. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-48337/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-48337 medium priority: Ubuntu including 6 source packages (emacs, emacs23, emacs24, emacs25, xemacs21, xemacs21-packages), 60 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 17, needs-triage 16, DNE 15, not-affected 7, released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-48337

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-48337

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu emacs <= 28.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:emacs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-48337

cvelogic Threat Intelligence