Jetty vulnerable to errant command quoting in CGI Servlet

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

3.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2023-36479: 1.16% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 67.24 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

If a user sends a request to a org.eclipse.jetty.servlets.CGI Servlet for a binary with a space in its name, the servlet will escape the command by wrapping it in quotation marks. This wrapped command, plus an optional command prefix, will then be executed through a call to Runtime.exec. If the original binary name provided by the user contains a quotation mark followed by a space, the resulting command line will contain multiple tokens instead of one. For example, if a request references a binary called file” name “here, the escaping algorithm will generate the command line string “file” name “here”, which will invoke the binary named file, not the one that the user requested. Exploit Scenario The cgi-bin directory contains a binary named exec and a subdirectory named exec” commands, which contains a file called bin1. The user sends to the CGI servlet a request for the filename exec” commands/bin1. This request will pass the file existence check on lines 194 through 205. The servlet…

Published by the source

14 Sep 2023, 16:16 UTC

Last modified by the source

16 Oct 2025, 14:24 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 16:40 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-3gh6-v5v9-6v9j

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-36479

Advisory: Jetty vulnerable to errant command quoting in CGI Servlet
IDs: CVE-2023-36479, GHSA-3gh6-v5v9-6v9j
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-36479 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 16:40 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Low (CVSS 3.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-servlets 11.0.16, 10.0.16, 9.4.52; org.eclipse.jetty.ee9:jetty-ee9-servlets 12.0.0-beta2; org.eclipse.jetty.ee8:jetty-ee8-servlets 12.0.0-beta2; org.eclipse.jetty.ee10:jetty-ee10-servlets 12.0.0-beta2. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-servlets: affected >= 9.0.0, <= 9.4.51; >= 10.0.0, <= 10.0.15; >= 11.0.0, <= 11.0.15; fixed in 9.4.52, 10.0.16, 11.0.16
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty.ee9:jetty-ee9-servlets: affected <= 12.0.0-beta1; fixed in 12.0.0-beta2
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty.ee8:jetty-ee8-servlets: affected <= 12.0.0-beta1; fixed in 12.0.0-beta2
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty.ee10:jetty-ee10-servlets: affected <= 12.0.0-beta1; fixed in 12.0.0-beta2

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-servlets: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty.ee9:jetty-ee9-servlets: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty.ee8:jetty-ee8-servlets: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.eclipse.jetty.ee10:jetty-ee10-servlets: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-servlets, org.eclipse.jetty.ee9:jetty-ee9-servlets, org.eclipse.jetty.ee8:jetty-ee8-servlets, org.eclipse.jetty.ee10:jetty-ee10-servlets.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-3gh6-v5v9-6v9j (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-3gh6-v5v9-6v9j lists affected ranges: Maven org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-servlets >=9.0.0 =10.0.0 =11.0.0 =0 =0 =0 <=12.0.0-beta1)

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