CVE-2023-28617: Org Mode · OS Command Injection
Source CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 40% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
- Affects
- Org Mode through 9.6.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Mar 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.
What to do
AI-suggested
- Monitor official GNU Emacs and Org Mode repositories for patches addressing CVE-2023-28617 and apply updates promptly once available.
- Until patches are released, avoid executing LaTeX code blocks in Org Mode on files or directories with untrusted or suspicious names containing shell metacharacters.
- Implement strict local user permissions to limit the ability of unprivileged users to execute code or modify files used by Org Mode.
- Educate users about the risks of opening or executing code blocks from untrusted sources, emphasizing caution with file and directory names.
- Use application whitelisting or sandboxing techniques to restrict the execution environment of Emacs and its subprocesses.
- Employ monitoring and logging to detect unusual command executions or shell activity originating from Emacs processes.
- Consider disabling org-babel LaTeX execution if it is not essential to reduce the attack surface.
Description
org-babel-execute:latex in ob-latex.el in Org Mode through 9.6.1 for GNU Emacs allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a file name or directory name that contains shell metacharacters.
References
- list.orgmode.org/tencent_04CF842704737012CCBCD63CD654DD41CA0A%40qq.com/T/ (opens in a new tab)
- git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git/commit/?id=8f8ec2ccf3f5ef8f38d68ec84a7e4739c45db485 (opens in a new tab)
- git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git/commit/?id=a8006ea580ed74f27f974d60b598143b04ad1741 (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/05/msg00008.html (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/10/msg00019.html (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/02/msg00033.html (opens in a new tab)