CVE-2023-2868

critical

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.

From the Tenable Blog

CVE-2023-2868: Barracuda and FBI Recommend Replacing Email Security Gateway (ESG) Devices Immediately

Published: 2023-08-30

Since October 2022, attackers have been exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Barracuda Email Security Gateway devices, and both the vendor and the FBI urge customers to replace these devices immediately.

References

https://securityaffairs.com/174743/intelligence/china-linked-threat-actors-stole-10-of-belgian-state-security-service-vsse-emails.html

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/stealthy-magic-packet-malware-targets-juniper-vpn-gateways/

https://www.securityweek.com/citrix-cisco-fortinet-zero-days-among-2023s-most-exploited-vulnerabilities/

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa24-317a

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa24-207a

https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/m-trends-2024.pdf

https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-uniblog-publish-prod/documents/Year_in_Review_of_ZeroDays.pdf

https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/2023-zero-day-trends

https://www.tenable.com/blog/from-bugs-to-breaches-25-significant-cves-as-mitre-cve-turns-25

https://www.tenable.com/blog/cve-2023-2868-barracuda-and-fbi-recommend-replacing-email-security-gateway-esg-devices

https://www.barracuda.com/company/legal/esg-vulnerability

https://status.barracuda.com/incidents/34kx82j5n4q9

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2023-05-24

Updated: 2025-04-02

Named Vulnerability: WhirlpoolNamed Vulnerability: SaltwaterNamed Vulnerability: SUBMARINENamed Vulnerability: Barracuda Email Security GatewayKnown Exploited Vulnerability (KEV)

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 10

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Severity: Critical

CVSS v3

Base Score: 9.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H