A vulnerability was found in Perl. This security issue occurs while Perl for Windows relies on the system path environment variable to find the shell (`cmd.exe`). When running an executable that uses the Windows Perl interpreter, Perl attempts to find and execute `cmd.exe` within the operating system. However, due to path search order issues, Perl initially looks for cmd.exe in the current working directory. This flaw allows an attacker with limited privileges to place`cmd.exe` in locations with weak permissions, such as `C:\ProgramData`. By doing so, arbitrary code can be executed when an administrator attempts to use this executable from these compromised locations.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-47039 is rated Low Risk (36.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Mandatory action: 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.
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 | 2025-03-30 | 0.15% | 0.06% | -0.09% |
| 2 | 2025-03-29 | 0.06% | 0.15% | +0.09% |
| 3 | 2025-03-17 | — | 0.06% | — |
Full EPSS history (4 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 7.8 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
— | CVE-2023-47039: 1 source package rows (perl); 25 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 25. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-47039 |
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2023-47039 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-47039 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47039 |
ubuntu
|
negligible | CVE-2023-47039 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (perl, perl6, raku), 24 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 19, DNE 5. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-47039 |