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.)

The remote Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALINUX3-SA-2025:0068 advisory.

    Package updates are available for Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 that fix the following vulnerabilities:

    CVE-2024-53920:
    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.)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Alibaba Cloud Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 9 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2025:4793 advisory.

    GNU Emacs is a powerful, customizable, self-documenting text editor. It provides special code editing     features, a scripting language (elisp), and the capability to read e-mail and news.

    Security Fix(es):

    * emacs: arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (CVE-2024-53920)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Oracle Linux 9 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ELSA-2025-4787 advisory.

    [1:27.2-11.el9_5.2]
    - Fix arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (RHEL-69395)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Oracle Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote AlmaLinux 9 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALSA-2025:4787 advisory.

    * emacs: arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (CVE-2024-53920)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the AlmaLinux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 9 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2025:4794 advisory.

    GNU Emacs is a powerful, customizable, self-documenting text editor. It provides special code editing     features, a scripting language (elisp), and the capability to read e-mail and news.

    Security Fix(es):

    * emacs: arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (CVE-2024-53920)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 9 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2025:4787 advisory.

    GNU Emacs is a powerful, customizable, self-documenting text editor. It provides special code editing     features, a scripting language (elisp), and the capability to read e-mail and news.

    Security Fix(es):

    * emacs: arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (CVE-2024-53920)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

An update of the emacs package has been released.

The version of emacs installed on the remote Azure Linux 3.0 host is prior to tested version. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the CVE-2024-53920 advisory.

  - 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.) (CVE-2024-53920)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The version of emacs installed on the remote CBL Mariner 2.0 host is prior to tested version. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the CVE-2024-53920 advisory.

  - 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.) (CVE-2024-53920)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLED15 / SLED_SAP15 / SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 / openSUSE 15 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2025:0798-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2024-53920: Fixed arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (bsc#1233894).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - 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.) (CVE-2024-53920)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The remote Debian 12 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dsa-5871 advisory.

    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian Security Advisory DSA-5871-1                   security@debian.org     https://www.debian.org/security/                       Moritz Muehlenhoff     February 27, 2025                     https://www.debian.org/security/faq
    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : emacs     CVE ID         : CVE-2024-53920 CVE-2025-1244

    Two security vulnerabilities were discovered in Emacs:

    CVE-2024-53920

        Elisp byte-compilation ('elisp-flymake-byte-compile') in the Flymake         mode is now disabled for untrusted files.

    CVE-2025-1244

        An incomplete escaping of shell meta characters in the man reader         component could potentially result in the execution of arbitrary         shell commands. Discovered by Maxim Nikulin.

    For the stable distribution (bookworm), these problems have been fixed in     version 1:28.2+1-15+deb12u4.

    We recommend that you upgrade your emacs packages.

    For the detailed security status of emacs please refer to     its security tracker page at:
    https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/emacs

    Further information about Debian Security Advisories, how to apply     these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be     found at: https://www.debian.org/security/

    Mailing list: debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Debian 11 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dla-4069 advisory.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian LTS Advisory DLA-4069-1                debian-lts@lists.debian.org     https://www.debian.org/lts/security/                         Sean Whitton     February 27, 2025                             https://wiki.debian.org/LTS
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : emacs     Version        : 1:27.1+1-3.1+deb11u6     CVE ID         : CVE-2023-28617 CVE-2024-53920 CVE-2025-1244     Debian Bug     : 1033342 1088690 1098255

    Multiple vulnerabilities were discovered in GNU Emacs, the extensible,     customisable, self-documenting, real-time display editor.

    CVE-2023-28617

        Improper handling of file or directory names containing shell         metacharacters in the ob-latex Lisp library could allow the         execution of attacker-controlled code.

    CVE-2024-53920

        Several ways to trigger arbitrary code execution were discovered in         Emacs's support for editing files in its own dialect of Lisp.
        These include arbitrary code execution upon opening an otherwise         innocent-looking file, with any (or no) file extension, for editing.

    CVE-2025-1244

        Improper handling of custom 'man' URI schemes could allow an         attacker to execute arbitrary shell commands by tricking users into         visiting a specially crafted website, or an HTTP URL with a         redirect.

    For Debian 11 bullseye, these problems have been fixed in version     1:27.1+1-3.1+deb11u6.

    We recommend that you upgrade your emacs packages.

    For the detailed security status of emacs please refer to     its security tracker page at:
    https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/emacs

    Further information about Debian LTS security advisories, how to apply     these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be     found at: https://wiki.debian.org/LTS     Attachment:
    signature.asc     Description: PGP signature

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The version of emacs installed on the remote host is prior to 30.1. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SSA:2025-057-01 advisory.

    New emacs packages are available for Slackware 15.0 and -current to fix security issues.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the emacs security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The version of emacs installed on the remote host is prior to 27.2-4. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2-2025-2757 advisory.

    In elisp-mode.el in GNU Emacs through 30.0.92, 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.) (CVE-2024-53920)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2025-849 advisory.

    In elisp-mode.el in GNU Emacs through 30.0.92, 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.) (CVE-2024-53920)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The version of FreeBSD installed on the remote host is prior to tested version. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the 7ba6c085-1590-491a-98ce-5452646b196f advisory.

    An Emacs 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.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the FreeBSD security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLED15 / SLED_SAP15 / SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 / openSUSE 15 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2024:4392-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2024-53920: Fixed arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion (bsc#1233894)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
236935	Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 : 0068: emacs (ALINUX3-SA-2025:0068)	Nessus	Alibaba Cloud Linux Local Security Checks	high
235727	RHEL 9 : emacs (RHSA-2025:4793)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	high
235713	Oracle Linux 9 : emacs (ELSA-2025-4787)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	high
235711	AlmaLinux 9 : emacs (ALSA-2025:4787)	Nessus	Alma Linux Local Security Checks	high
235709	RHEL 9 : emacs (RHSA-2025:4794)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	high
235700	RHEL 9 : emacs (RHSA-2025:4787)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	high
235450	Photon OS 4.0: Emacs PHSA-2025-4.0-0791	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	high
235145	Photon OS 5.0: Emacs PHSA-2025-5.0-0512	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	high
233441	Azure Linux 3.0 Security Update: emacs (CVE-2024-53920)	Nessus	Azure Linux Local Security Checks	high
233338	CBL Mariner 2.0 Security Update: emacs (CVE-2024-53920)	Nessus	MarinerOS Local Security Checks	high
232326	SUSE SLED15 / SLES15 / openSUSE 15 Security Update : emacs (SUSE-SU-2025:0798-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
231140	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2024-53920	Nessus	Misc.	high
216930	Debian dsa-5871 : emacs - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	critical
216874	Debian dla-4069 : emacs - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	high
216858	Slackware Linux 15.0 / current emacs Multiple Vulnerabilities (SSA:2025-057-01)	Nessus	Slackware Local Security Checks	critical
216831	Amazon Linux 2 : emacs (ALAS-2025-2757)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	critical
216800	Amazon Linux 2023 : emacs, emacs-common, emacs-devel (ALAS2023-2025-849)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	critical
216707	FreeBSD : Emacs -- Shell injection vulnerability (7ba6c085-1590-491a-98ce-5452646b196f)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	high
213301	SUSE SLED15 / SLES15 / openSUSE 15 Security Update : emacs (SUSE-SU-2024:4392-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2024-53920

high

Tenable Plugins

high

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critical

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