CVE-2023-2491

A flaw was found in the Emacs text editor. Processing a specially crafted org-mode code with the "org-babel-execute:latex" function in ob-latex.el can result in arbitrary command execution. This CVE exists because of a CVE-2023-28617 security regression for the emacs package in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2.

Published: 2023-05-17 Last update: 2025-01-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-2491 is rated Low Risk (37.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2023-2491

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 0.29% 0.06% -0.22%
2 2025-11-18 0.06% 0.29% +0.22%
3 2025-04-15 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-2491

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:L/UI:N/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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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: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.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-2491

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-2491

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-2491 unimportant 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-2023-2491
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-2491
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-2491 medium priority: Ubuntu including 6 source packages (emacs, emacs23, emacs24, emacs25, xemacs21, xemacs21-packages), 48 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 23, DNE 18, ignored 7. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-2491

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-2491

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu emacs 26.1-9.el8 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:emacs:26.1-9.el8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu emacs 27.2-8.el9 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:emacs:27.2-8.el9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 8.8 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 9.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:9.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 8.8 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 9.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:9.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 8.8 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-2491

cvelogic Threat Intelligence