CVE-2023-24805 | Command injection in cups-filters

Exp

cups-filters contains backends, filters, and other software required to get the cups printing service working on operating systems other than macos. If you use the Backend Error Handler (beh) to create an accessible network printer, this security vulnerability can cause remote code execution. `beh.c` contains the line `retval = system(cmdline) >> 8;` which calls the `system` command with the operand `cmdline`. `cmdline` contains multiple user controlled, unsanitized values. As a result an attacker with network access to the hosted print server can exploit this vulnerability to inject system commands which are executed in the context of the running server. This issue has been addressed in commit `8f2740357` and is expected to be bundled in the next release. Users are advised to upgrade when possible and to restrict access to network printers in the meantime.

Published: 2023-05-17 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-24805 is rated High Exploit Risk (76.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.70%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2023-24805

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-24805

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 9.30% 3.70% -5.60%
2 2026-06-04 8.14% 9.30% +1.16%
3 2026-05-18 — 8.14% —

Full EPSS history (39 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-24805

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-24805

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-24805

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-24805: 1 source package rows (cups-filters); 6 state rows across 6 repos (3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-24805
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-24805 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (cups-filters), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-24805
gentoo high CVE-2023-24805: 1 GLSA(s) (202401-06), 1 atom(s) (net-print/cups-filters); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-24805
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-24805
suse high CVE-2023-24805 severity important: SUSE including 16 source package names (cups-filters, cups-filters-1.20.0-29.el8_8.2, …), 117 product×package rows across 46 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7, … (46 product lines)): Known Not Affected 61, Fixed 56. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-24805/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-24805 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (cups-filters), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-24805

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-24805

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation cups-filters < 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:cups-filters:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation cups-filters 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:cups-filters:2.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation cups-filters 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:cups-filters:2.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation cups-filters 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:cups-filters:2.0:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation cups-filters 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:cups-filters:2.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-24805

cvelogic Threat Intelligence