# CVE-2023-2868: Remote Code injection in Barracuda Email Security Gateway

> CVE-2023-2868: Remote Code injection in Barracuda Email Security Gateway. CVSS 9.4 (CVSS 3.1), in CISA KEV.

Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2023-2868
Last updated: 2025-10-21T23:05:47Z

- Published: 2023-05-24 18:00 UTC · Updated: 2025-10-21 23:05 UTC · Assigner: Google
- CVSS: 9.4 (CVSS 3.1) · Severity: Critical · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L
- EPSS: 86.8%, 100th percentile (scored 2026-10-25)
- CISA KEV: yes, added 2023-05-26, federal due date 2023-06-16, ransomware use: Unknown
- CWE: CWE-20

## Description

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.

## CISA required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

## Affected vendors and products

- Barracuda: Barracuda Email Security Gateway

## References

- [CVE record on cve.org](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-2868)
- [NVD entry](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2868)
- [https://status.barracuda.com/incidents/34kx82j5n4q9](https://status.barracuda.com/incidents/34kx82j5n4q9)
- [https://www.barracuda.com/company/legal/esg-vulnerability](https://www.barracuda.com/company/legal/esg-vulnerability)

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_Sources: CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (https://www.cve.org/) This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (https://nvd.nist.gov/) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog) EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (https://www.first.org/epss/)_


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Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2023-2868 · Markdown: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2023-2868.md · JSON: https://rewindex.com/api/v1/cves/CVE-2023-2868 · Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Generated 2026-10-26T03:12:26.247Z