CVE-2023-27986

CRITICALNVD 7.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2023-03-09. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 2.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: EPSS, GitHub Security Advisory, NVD CVSS v3
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekElevated
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixRemediate within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high (the SSVC decision on this page).
  • CISA's Vulnrichment rates exploitation as PoC; EchelonGraph holds no exploit-code reference for it
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.5%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: No code on recordExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

emacsclient-mail.desktop in Emacs 28.1 through 28.2 is vulnerable to Emacs Lisp code injections through a crafted mailto: URI with unescaped double-quote characters. It is fixed in 29.0.90.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
60
EG Risk 60/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity98% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation40% × 40%
EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 3 (Elevated): a constant, not a probability.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
Exploitation public PoC (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
EPSS PROB
0.5%
EPSS %ILE
39th
KEV
Not listed

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
9.8 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
EG Likelihood
0.5% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-23). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.

Exploitation public PoC (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.

In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

Published

March 9, 2023

Last Modified

March 5, 2025

Advisory Details (4)

Auto-updated Sep 24, 2026
Patch available.
Web page

oss-security - Shell command and Emacs Lisp code injection in emacsclient-mail.desktop

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/03/08/2
Web page

Shell command and Emacs Lisp injection in emacsclient-mail.desktop - /dev/posts/

https://www.gabriel.urdhr.fr/2023/06/08/emacsclient-mail-shell-elisp-injections/
Web page

oss-security - Re: Shell command and Emacs Lisp code injection in emacsclient-mail.desktop

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/03/09/1
Web page

Fix Elisp code injection vulnerability in emacsclient-mail.desktop - emacs.git - Emacs source repository

http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/commit/?h=emacs-29&id=3c1693d08b0a71d40a77e7b40c0ebc42dca2d2cc

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2023-27986(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Affected Packages

(3 across 3 ecosystems)
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
emacs—
  • every version up to 1:28.2+1-13: fixed in 1:28.2+1-13
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
emacs—
  • every version up to 1:28.2+1-13: fixed in 1:28.2+1-13
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
emacs—
  • every version up to 1:28.2+1-13: fixed in 1:28.2+1-13
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 26× in last 7d / 62× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 234 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 134 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-10-24 05:49 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-24 05:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  3. 2026-10-23 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  4. 2026-10-23 05:24 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-10-23 05:24 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-10-23 05:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  7. 2026-10-22 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  8. 2026-10-22 04:56 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-10-22 04:56 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-10-22 04:56 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  11. 2026-10-21 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  12. 2026-10-21 04:28 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-10-21 04:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  14. 2026-10-20 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  15. 2026-10-20 04:02 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-10-20 04:02 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-10-20 04:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  18. 2026-10-19 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  19. 2026-10-19 03:34 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-19 03:34 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-10-19 03:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  22. 2026-10-18 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  23. 2026-10-18 03:07 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-10-18 03:07 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-10-18 03:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-10-17 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  2. 2026-10-17 02:39 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-17 02:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  4. 2026-10-16 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  5. 2026-10-16 02:11 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-16 02:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  7. 2026-10-15 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  8. 2026-10-14 22:03 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-10-14 22:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  10. 2026-10-14 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  11. 2026-10-13 17:46 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-13 17:46 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-10-13 17:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  14. 2026-10-13 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  15. 2026-10-12 17:19 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-10-12 17:19 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-10-12 17:18 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-whwp-m746-hx6w · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  18. 2026-10-12 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  19. 2026-10-11 21:56 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-11 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  21. 2026-10-10 19:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  22. 2026-10-09 20:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  23. 2026-10-08 17:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  24. 2026-10-07 23:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  25. 2026-10-06 15:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  26. 2026-10-05 17:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  27. 2026-10-04 23:20 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  28. 2026-10-03 14:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  29. 2026-10-02 16:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  30. 2026-10-01 19:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  31. 2026-09-30 16:20 UTCEG score recompute
  32. 2026-09-30 15:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  33. 2026-09-29 15:16 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  34. 2026-09-28 13:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  35. 2026-09-27 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  36. 2026-09-26 00:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  37. 2026-09-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  38. 2026-09-23 18:52 UTCOSV refresh
  39. 2026-09-23 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 40th percentile
  40. 2026-09-22 14:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 40th percentile
  41. 2026-09-20 20:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 40th percentile
  42. 2026-09-16 14:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 40th percentile
  43. 2026-09-13 16:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  44. 2026-09-12 14:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  45. 2026-09-11 14:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  46. 2026-09-11 09:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  47. 2026-09-08 21:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  48. 2026-09-07 15:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  49. 2026-09-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  50. 2026-09-05 15:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  51. 2026-09-04 13:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  52. 2026-09-04 13:29 UTCOSV refresh
  53. 2026-09-04 05:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  54. 2026-09-02 14:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  55. 2026-09-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  56. 2026-08-30 19:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  57. 2026-08-30 01:19 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  58. 2026-08-28 21:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  59. 2026-08-27 14:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  60. 2026-08-26 14:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  61. 2026-08-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  62. 2026-08-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  63. 2026-08-23 00:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  64. 2026-08-21 23:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  65. 2026-08-20 22:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  66. 2026-08-19 17:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  67. 2026-08-18 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  68. 2026-08-18 00:59 UTCOSV refresh
  69. 2026-08-17 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  70. 2026-08-16 14:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  71. 2026-08-16 02:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 39th percentile
  72. 2026-08-15 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  73. 2026-08-13 21:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  74. 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile
  75. 2026-08-11 13:39 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.5% · 38th percentile

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-27986?
CVE-2023-27986 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on March 9, 2023. emacsclient-mail.desktop in Emacs 28.1 through 28.2 is vulnerable to Emacs Lisp code injections through a crafted mailto: URI with unescaped double-quote characters. It is fixed in 29.0.90.
When was the CVE record for CVE-2023-27986 published?
The CVE record for CVE-2023-27986 was published on March 9, 2023. That is the record's publication date; the vulnerability itself may have been made public earlier. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of March 5, 2025; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2023-27986 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-27986 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (39th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-27986?
CVE-2023-27986 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-27986?
A fix for CVE-2023-27986 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2023-27986 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2023-27986

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