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CVE-2024-53920VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2024-53920: emacs · n/a

Affects emacsSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High : upgrade to 30.1 soon.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 48% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 30.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 27 Nov 2024

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 2026-10-25.

What to do

Upgrade debian/emacs to 30.1.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Debiandebian/emacspkg:deb/debian/emacsOther threatsAffected
  • <30.1
Fixed in
  • 30.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

1. Upgrade GNU Emacs to version 30.1 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. 2. Avoid invoking elisp-completion-at-point or enabling on-the-fly diagnosis features on untrusted Emacs Lisp source code. 3. Implement strict policies to restrict the opening or byte-compiling of untrusted Lisp code within Emacs environments. 4. Educate users about the risks of interacting with untrusted Emacs Lisp code and enforce best practices for code review and source verification. 5. Use sandboxing or containerization techniques to isolate Emacs sessions when working with potentially untrusted code. 6. Monitor and audit Emacs usage logs to detect unusual activity related to Lisp code completion or compilation. 7. Employ endpoint protection solutions that can detect suspicious behavior resulting from code execution within Emacs processes. 8. Limit local user privileges to reduce the impact of potential exploitation.

Description

In elisp-mode.el in GNU Emacs before 30.1, a user who chooses to invoke elisp-completion-at-point (for code completion) on untrusted Emacs Lisp source code can trigger unsafe Lisp macro expansion that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code. (This unsafe expansion also occurs if a user chooses to enable on-the-fly diagnosis that byte compiles untrusted Emacs Lisp source code.)

References

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