The remote Ubuntu 16.04 ESM / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the USN-5820-1 advisory.

    Lorenz Hipp discovered a flaw in exuberant-ctags handling of the tag

    filename command-line argument. A crafted tag filename specified

    in the command line or in the configuration file could result in

    arbitrary command execution.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu 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 8 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALSA-2023:2863 advisory.

  - A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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 ctags installed on the remote host is prior to 5.8-23. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2-2023-2343 advisory.

    A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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 remote Oracle Linux 8 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ELSA-2023-2863 advisory.

    [5.8-23]
    - CVE-2022-4515, arbitrary code execution issue       Resolves: rhbz#2153787

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 version of ctags installed on the remote host is prior to 5.8-2.7. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS-2025-1974 advisory.

    A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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 ctags 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-2022-4515 advisory.

  - A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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

The remote CentOS Linux 8 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the CESA-2023:2863 advisory.

  - A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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 8 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2023:2863 advisory.

    Ctags is a C programming language indexing and cross-reference tool.

    Security Fix(es):

    * ctags: arbitrary command execution via a tag file with a crafted filename (CVE-2022-4515)

    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.

    Additional Changes:

    For detailed information on changes in this release, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Release Notes     linked from 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 Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALINUX3-SA-2023:0069 advisory.

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

    CVE-2022-4515:
    A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way.

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 Debian 10 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the dla-3254 advisory.

    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian LTS Advisory DLA-3254-1                debian-lts@lists.debian.org     https://www.debian.org/lts/security/                           Chris Lamb     December 31, 2022                             https://wiki.debian.org/LTS
    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : exuberant-ctags     Version        : 1:5.9~svn20110310-12+deb10u1     CVE ID         : CVE-2022-4515     Debian Bug     : 1026995

    A flaw was found in the way the exubertant-ctags source code parser     handled the -o command-line option which specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in     the configuration file could have resulted in arbitrary command     execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the     system(3) function in an unsafe way.

    For Debian 10 buster, this problem has been fixed in version     1:5.9~svn20110310-12+deb10u1.

    We recommend that you upgrade your exuberant-ctags packages.

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

    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

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian 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 SLES12 / SLES_SAP12 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2023:0224-1 advisory.

  - A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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 a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2023:0225-1 advisory.

  - A flaw was found in Exuberant Ctags in the way it handles the -o option. This option specifies the tag     filename. A crafted tag filename specified in the command line or in the configuration file results in     arbitrary command execution because the externalSortTags() in sort.c calls the system(3) function in an     unsafe way. (CVE-2022-4515)

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	Published	Updated	Severity
170473	Ubuntu 16.04 ESM / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS : exuberant-ctags vulnerability (USN-5820-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	1/24/2023	8/27/2024	high
176178	AlmaLinux 8 : ctags (ALSA-2023:2863)	Nessus	Alma Linux Local Security Checks	5/21/2023	5/21/2023	high
185785	Amazon Linux 2 : ctags (ALAS-2023-2343)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	11/15/2023	12/11/2024	high
176309	Oracle Linux 8 : ctags (ELSA-2023-2863)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	5/24/2023	10/22/2024	high
234996	Amazon Linux AMI : ctags (ALAS-2025-1974)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	4/30/2025	10/30/2025	high
172947	CBL Mariner 2.0 Security Update: ctags (CVE-2022-4515)	Nessus	MarinerOS Local Security Checks	3/20/2023	2/10/2025	high
175886	CentOS 8 : ctags (CESA-2023:2863)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	5/16/2023	5/16/2023	high
175903	RHEL 8 : ctags (RHSA-2023:2863)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	5/17/2023	11/7/2024	high
236318	Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 : 0069: ctags (ALINUX3-SA-2023:0069)	Nessus	Alibaba Cloud Linux Local Security Checks	5/14/2025	5/14/2025	high
169439	Debian dla-3254 : exuberant-ctags - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	12/31/2022	1/22/2025	high
170943	SUSE SLES12 Security Update : ctags (SUSE-SU-2023:0224-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	2/2/2023	7/14/2023	high
170945	SUSE SLED15 / SLES15 / openSUSE 15 Security Update : ctags (SUSE-SU-2023:0225-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	2/2/2023	7/14/2023	high

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