Detections
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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-38745

medium Nessus Plugin ID 226471

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

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

 - Pandoc before 3.1.6 allows arbitrary file write: this can be triggered by providing a crafted image element in the input when generating files via the --extract-media option or outputting to PDF format.
 This allows an attacker to create or overwrite arbitrary files, depending on the privileges of the process running Pandoc. It only affects systems that pass untrusted user input to Pandoc and allow Pandoc to be used to produce a PDF or with the --extract-media option. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2023-35936 (failure to properly account for double encoded path names). (CVE-2023-38745)

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

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2023-38745

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-38745

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 226471

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2023_38745.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/5/2025

Updated: 9/14/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.8

Temporal Score: 4.3

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-38745

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.3

Temporal Score: 5.5

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

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:pandoc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:pandoc-common, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:pandoc, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:pandoc-common, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.04, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:pandoc, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/25/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-38745