Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-5002

RCE in Fedoraproject Fedora 37 … 38

RCECommand Injection
Published
22 September 2023
Modified
17 March 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.015 71th percentile
Risk Priority 60 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-5002 is a medium-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora. Its CVSS base score is 6.0 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 29% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2023-5002 is a command injection vulnerability in pgAdmin that affects all versions prior to 7.6. The flaw lies in the server HTTP API responsible for validating user-supplied paths to external PostgreSQL utilities such as pg_dump and pg_restore; insufficient control of the executed server code permits arbitrary operating-system commands to be run. The issue is tracked under CWE-78 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.0.

An authenticated attacker with network access can supply a malicious path through the affected API endpoint. Successful exploitation grants the ability to execute arbitrary commands on the pgAdmin server host, resulting in high impact to integrity and availability and limited impact to confidentiality under the given attack-complexity and privilege constraints.

Public advisories published by Red Hat and Fedora reference the upstream pgAdmin issue tracker and confirm that the vulnerability is resolved by upgrading to version 7.6 or later. The current EPSS score of 0.2376, which reached a peak of 0.2721, indicates moderate and relatively stable exploitation interest since disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in pgAdmin. This issue occurs when the pgAdmin server HTTP API validates the path a user selects to external PostgreSQL utilities such as pg_dump and pg_restore. Versions of pgAdmin prior to 7.6 failed to properly control…

more

the server code executed on this API, allowing an authenticated user to run arbitrary commands on the server.

CWE(s)
CWE-78NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2022-4223Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2026-7816Same product: Pgadmin Pgadmin 4
CVE-2023-22298Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2026-17347Same product: Pgadmin Pgadmin 4
CVE-2025-12763Same product: Pgadmin Pgadmin 4
CVE-2024-4577Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-24805Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2026-17566Same product: Pgadmin Pgadmin 4
CVE-2020-16846Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2020-8813Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora

Affected Assets

pgadmin
pgadmin 4
≤ 7.7
fedoraproject
fedora
37, 38

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)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

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.

SC-27 Platform-independent Applications
addresses: CWE-78

Platform-independent apps typically execute inside a managed runtime or sandbox that restricts direct OS command execution, reducing the ability to exploit OS command injection.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-78

Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.

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 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References