CVE-2022-36231
Published: 23 February 2023
Summary
CVE-2022-36231 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Newspaperclub Pdf Info. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 4.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
pdf_info version 0.5.3 contains a command execution vulnerability because its Ruby implementation invokes external commands using backticks rather than the safer Open3 library. The affected component is the pdf_info Ruby gem, which is distributed via rubygems.org and used to extract metadata from PDF files.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can supply a malicious PDF or influence command arguments processed by the library, resulting in arbitrary operating system command execution with the privileges of the calling process. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8, reflecting full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact without any required authentication or user interaction.
Public references point to an open issue and a corresponding pull request in the upstream repository that address the unsafe command invocation. The EPSS score rose from lower values to a peak of 0.2729 before receding to the current 0.2256, indicating measurable post-disclosure exploitation interest.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-0676
Vulnerability details
pdf_info 0.5.3 is vulnerable to Command Execution because the Ruby code uses backticks instead of Open3.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.