CVE-2022-4515

HighCVSS 7.8/10Last modified Jun 17, 2026

Description

A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the "-o" option. This option specifies the tag filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an unsafe way.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1 7.8/10CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness enumeration

CWE-78

Affected software

Vendor	Product	Versions
n/a	Exuberant Ctags	All versions are affected

References

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00040.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/ctags/code/HEAD/tree/tags/ctags-5.8/sort.c#l56Exploit, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00040.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/ctags/code/HEAD/tree/tags/ctags-5.8/sort.c#l56Exploit, Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published: Dec 20, 2022
Last modified: Jun 17, 2026
NVD status: Modified

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