Security Resilience

CVE-2023-30844

Mutagen ≤ 0.16.6

Published
08 May 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 3.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0074 54th percentile
Risk Priority 28 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-30844 is a low-severity Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences (CWE-150) vulnerability in Mutagen Mutagen. Its CVSS base score is 3.0 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 46% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Mutagen provides real-time file synchronization and flexible network forwarding for developers. Prior to versions 0.16.6 and 0.17.1 in `mutagen` and prior to version 0.17.1 in `mutagen-compose`, Mutagen `list` and `monitor` commands are susceptible to control characters that could be provided…

more

by remote endpoints. This could cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters were present in error messages or file paths/names. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution. The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged. As a workaround, avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.

CWE(s)
CWE-150CWE-116

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-52005Shared CWE-116, CWE-150
CVE-2026-6019Shared CWE-116, CWE-150
CVE-2024-43785Shared CWE-150
CVE-2026-45038Shared CWE-150
CVE-2026-45803Shared CWE-150
CVE-2024-56201Shared CWE-150
CVE-2025-65082Shared CWE-150
CVE-2026-103431Shared CWE-150
CVE-2025-55193Shared CWE-150
CVE-2024-9774Shared CWE-150

Affected Assets

mutagen
mutagen
0.17.0 · ≤ 0.16.6
mutagen
mutagen compose
≤ 0.17.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.10
  • V1.3.12

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.

SI-15 Information Output Filtering
addresses: CWE-116

Validating that output matches expected content directly mitigates failures to properly encode or escape data for its destination context.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input neutralization and escaping to prevent this class of flaw.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.6.6 Confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements partial match
removes
A.8.19 Installation of software on operational systems partial match
removes
A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
blocks

A.8.25 mandates secure SDLC practices including secure coding guidelines, security requirements, checkpoints, testing (scans/penetration), and developer training that reach escape/sequence neutralization; this prevents exploitation for many instances but leaves a bounded remainder where implementation is incomplete or the specific sequences are missed.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
blocks

A.8.26 requires identifying and specifying requirements including resilience against SQL injections, input validation, and output controls (items d, j, l, m, n), which when addressed stop exploitation of unneutralized escape sequences; this covers only a minority slice of CWE-150's broader meta/control sequences and downstream contexts, with the bulk left to implementation details in other controls.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles including data validation/sanitization, distrusting external input, and design reviews against attack patterns, which reaches a minority slice of improper neutralization (e.g. via secure architecture and hardening) but leaves most instances of missing or incorrect escaping in downstream components unaddressed.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards require proper escaping and neutralization of control characters before downstream processing.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-116, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References