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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 16 Jun 2023.
Email Security Gateway 300 FirmwareOperating system · Barracuda

CVE-2023-2868

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.2.0.006 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
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.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Remote command injection in Barracuda Email Security Gateway (appliance) versions 5.1.3.001-9.2.0.006. Incomplete input validation of filenames within .tar archives allows attackers to craft malicious archive filenames that execute system commands via Perl's qx operator with appliance privileges.

MitigationVerify appliance has received and applied the BNSF-36456 patch (automatic updates). If still on affected version, upgrade to patched release. Restrict network access to appliance management interfaces as defense-in-depth.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Email Security Gateway 300 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 5.1.3.001, <= 9.2.0.006
Email Security Gateway 400 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 5.1.3.001, <= 9.2.0.006
Email Security Gateway 600 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 5.1.3.001, <= 9.2.0.006
Email Security Gateway 800 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 5.1.3.001, <= 9.2.0.006
Email Security Gateway 900 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 5.1.3.001, <= 9.2.0.006

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check the installed firmware version
    Access the appliance management interface or use the system status page to view the current firmware version
    Affected if The firmware version is >= 5.1.3.001 and <= 9.2.0.006 (models 300, 400, 600, 800, 900)
  2. Verify patch BNSF-36456 status
    Check the Barracuda dashboard or appliance management interface for the patch status
    Affected if The patch has not been applied or the patch status cannot be confirmed
  3. Determine if the appliance accepts .tar archive uploads
    Review the appliance configuration to see if the feature allowing .tar file uploads is enabled
    Affected if The .tar upload feature is enabled and the appliance is in the affected version range

The environment is affected if the Barracuda Email Security Gateway firmware falls within 5.1.3.001-9.2.0.006 and the BNSF-36456 patch has not been applied.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 9.2.0.006
Interim mitigation

Verify appliance has received and applied the BNSF-36456 patch (automatic updates). If still on affected version, upgrade to patched release. Restrict network access to appliance management interfaces as defense-in-depth.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firmware version 9.2.0.006 or later includes the BNSF-36456 patch

  1. Verify that the BNSF-36456 patch has been applied by checking the appliance's system status or firmware version
  2. If the appliance is running an affected version (< 9.2.0.006), ensure automatic updates are enabled to receive the patch
  3. Confirm the patch was successfully applied by reviewing the security update history in the appliance admin interface
  4. If the patch was not automatically applied, contact Barracuda Networks support for manual patch deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Email Security Gateway 300 Firmware Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-2868 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data