CVE-2023-22496 | Netdata vulnerable to command injection

Exp

Netdata is an open source option for real-time infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting. An attacker with the ability to establish a streaming connection can execute arbitrary commands on the targeted Netdata agent. When an alert is triggered, the function `health_alarm_execute` is called. This function performs different checks and then enqueues a command by calling `spawn_enq_cmd`. This command is populated with several arguments that are not sanitized. One of them is the `registry_hostname` of the node for which the alert is raised. By providing a specially crafted `registry_hostname` as part of the health data that is streamed to a Netdata (parent) agent, an attacker can execute arbitrary commands at the remote host as a side-effect of the raised alert. Note that the commands are executed as the user running the Netdata Agent. This user is usually named `netdata`. The ability to run arbitrary commands may allow an attacker to escalate privileges by escalating other vulnerabilities in the system, as that user. The problem has been fixed in: Netdata agent v1.37 (stable) and Netdata agent v1.36.0-409 (nightly). As a workaround, streaming is not enabled by default. If you have previously enabled this, it can be disabled. Limiting access to the port on the recipient Agent to trusted child connections may mitigate the impact of this vulnerability.

Published: 2023-01-13 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-22496 is rated High Exploit Risk (86.8/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 36.17%, 98th percentile). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +34.27% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-22496

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-22496

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 2026-06-15 1.90% 36.17% +34.27%
2 2026-05-16 1.98% 1.90% -0.08%
3 2026-04-21 1.98%

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-22496

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
2.2 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 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-22496

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-22496

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2023-22496: 1 source package rows (netdata); 1 state rows across 1 repos (3.17-community); fixed 0, open 1. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-22496
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-22496 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (netdata), 2 status rows across 2 suites (bookworm, bullseye): open 1, resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-22496
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-22496 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (netdata), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 5, not-affected 5, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-22496

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22496

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
netdata netdata < 1.37.0 cpe:2.3:a:netdata:netdata:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-22496

URL Tags
https://github.com/netdata/netdata/security/advisories/GHSA-xg38-3vmw-2978 Exploit Mitigation Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence