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ExploitedIn CISA KEV

CVE-2023-2868

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2023-05-26 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel.

  • Published2023-05-24
  • WeaknessCWE-20 · CWE-77

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

A remote command injection vulnerability exists in the Barracuda Email Security Gateway (appliance form factor only) product effecting versions 5.1.3.001-9.2.0.006. The vulnerability arises out of a failure to comprehensively sanitize the processing of .tar file (tape archives). The vulnerability stems from incomplete input validation of a user-supplied .tar file as it pertains to the names of the files contained within the archive. As a consequence, a remote attacker can specifically format these file names in a particular manner that will result in remotely executing a system command through Perl's qx operator with the privileges of the Email Security Gateway product. This issue was fixed as part of BNSF-36456 patch. This patch was automatically applied to all customer appliances.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2023-05-2419:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2023-05-26Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
  3. 2023-05-26Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
  4. 2023-05-26Exploitation first reportedCISA KEV
  5. 2025-01-1615:36SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-04 09:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-2868?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-2868?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Barracuda email security gateway 300 firmwareversion to verify
BranchAffectedFixed in
9.2≥ 5.1.3.001, ≤ 9.2.0.006no fix published
Barracuda email security gateway 400 firmwareversion to verify
BranchAffectedFixed in
9.2≥ 5.1.3.001, ≤ 9.2.0.006no fix published
Barracuda email security gateway 600 firmwareversion to verify
BranchAffectedFixed in
9.2≥ 5.1.3.001, ≤ 9.2.0.006no fix published

2 more products in the sources.

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As Google, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • Barracuda Email Security Gatewayother versions: not affected
    Affected
    • ≥ 5.1.3.001, < 9.2.0.006fixed in 9.2.0.006custom

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2023-05-24

Fix

  1. CISA’s required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.due 2023-06-16

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
3 repositories, unverifiedcfielding-r7/poc-cve-2023-2868cashapp323232/CVE-2023-2868CVE-2023-2868krmxd/CVE-2023-2868
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/linux/smtp/barracuda_esg_tarfile_rcerank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2023-05-26
Patch Due Date
2023-06-16
Ransomware Use
Unknown
Required Action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2023-05-24
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-2868?

A remote command injection vulnerability exists in the Barracuda Email Security Gateway (appliance form factor only) product effecting versions 5.1.3.001-9.2.0.006. The vulnerability arises out of a failure to comprehensively sanitize the processing of .tar file (tape archives). The vulnerability stems from incomplete input validation of a user-supplied .tar file as it pertains to the names of the files contained within the archive. As a consequence, a remote attacker can specifically format these file names in a particular manner that will result in remotely executing a system command through Perl's qx operator with the privileges of the Email Security Gateway product. This issue was fixed as part of BNSF-36456 patch. This patch was automatically applied to all customer appliances.

Is CVE-2023-2868 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2023-2868 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2023-06-16.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-2868?

CVE-2023-2868 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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