A remote command injection vulnerability exists in the Barracuda Email Security Gateway (appliance form factor only) product effecting versions 5.1.3.001-9.2.0.006. The vulnerability arises out of a failure to comprehensively sanitize the processing of .tar file (tape archives). The vulnerability stems from incomplete input validation of a user-supplied .tar file as it pertains to the names of the files contained within the archive. As a consequence, a remote attacker can specifically format these file names in a particular manner that will result in remotely executing a system command through Perl's qx operator with the privileges of the Email Security Gateway product. This issue was fixed as part of BNSF-36456 patch. This patch was automatically applied to all customer appliances.
CVE-2023-2868
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 9.4 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-05-26), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 9.4 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at low mission impact
The CVE record names the fixed release — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 9.4
- EG Score
- 9.4CRITICALhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 97EG Risk 97/100
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)Severity94% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.4 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation100% × 40%Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.Automatability100% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: yes (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Attend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (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: The CVE record names the fixed release. Apply it sooner than your standard update timelines at low mission impact and as soon as possible at medium or high. - EPSS PROB
- 87%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (9.4): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.4 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 9.4 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 87% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-22). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Act at medium mission impactAttend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.CISA BOD 26-04: 3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 3 days & forensic triage 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)Attend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.
The CVE record names the fixed release. Apply it sooner than your standard update timelines at low mission impact and as soon as possible at medium or high.
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (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)3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 3 days & forensic triage if it is not.
In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable yes (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
CISA required action“Apply updates per vendor instructions.”
Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://status.barracuda.com/incidents/34kx82j5n4q9 · https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2868
Published
May 24, 2023
Last Modified
October 24, 2025
Advisory Details (3)
Auto-updated Oct 19, 2026Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA
Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-2868Barracuda Networks Status - Barracuda identified a vulnerability (CVE-2023-2868) in our Email Security Gateway appliance (ESG) on May 19, 2023.
https://status.barracuda.com/incidents/34kx82j5n4q9Barracuda Email Security Gateway Appliance (ESG) Vulnerability | Barracuda Networks
https://www.barracuda.com/company/legal/esg-vulnerabilityWeakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 18× in last 7d / 162× 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 1,011 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 911 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-23 06:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-23 06:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-22 06:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 06:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-21 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-21 06:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 06:31 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-20 06:42 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 06:42 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-19 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-19 06:51 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-19 06:50 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-18 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-18 07:00 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-18 07:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-17 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-17 07:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 07:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-16 07:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-16 07:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-15 07:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-15 07:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-14 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 07:37 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-14 07:37 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
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- 2026-10-13 07:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-12 18:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 07:57 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-12 04:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-12 00:06 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-11 20:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 20:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-11 12:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 12:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-11 08:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-11 04:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-11 00:42 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-10 20:48 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-10 16:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-10 13:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-10 09:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-10 05:14 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-10 01:21 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-09 21:29 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-09 17:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-09 13:43 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-09 09:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-09 05:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-09 02:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-08 22:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-08 18:15 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-08 18:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-08 17:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-08 14:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-08 10:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-08 06:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-08 02:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-07 22:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-07 18:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-07 14:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-07 11:06 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-07 07:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-07 03:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 23:27 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 19:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 15:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-06 15:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 15:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-06 11:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 07:56 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 04:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-06 00:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-05 20:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-05 16:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-05 12:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-05 08:40 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-05 04:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-05 00:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-04 20:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-04 17:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-04 13:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-04 09:16 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-04 05:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-04 01:31 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-03 21:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-03 17:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-03 13:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-03 09:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-03 06:06 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-03 02:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-02 22:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-02 18:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-02 14:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-02 10:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-02 06:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-02 02:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-01 23:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
- 2026-10-01 19:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-898g-hmh5-hrcr · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.4
Publicly available exploits
(2 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Metasploit module, 1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Metasploitexploit/linux/smtp/barracuda_esg_tarfile_rce✓ verifiedPublished Mar 23, 2026
Barracuda ESG TAR Filename Command Injection
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoCcfielding-r7/poc-cve-2023-2868Published Jun 20, 2023
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2023-2868?
When was CVE-2023-2868 made public?
Is CVE-2023-2868 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-2868?
Which products are affected by CVE-2023-2868?
How do I remediate CVE-2023-2868?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2023-2868
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