# CVE-2023-43799: The Altair Desktop Client Does Not Sanitize External URLs before passing them to the underlying system

> Attackers can execute arbitrary commands on the host system via unsanitized external URLs in the Altair GraphQL Desktop Client.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 20 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9m5v-vrf6-fmvm

## What is CVE-2023-43799?

CVE-2023-43799 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in altair-graphql altair, published on 4 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Altair is a GraphQL Client. Prior to version 5.2.5, the Altair GraphQL Client Desktop Application does not sanitize external URLs before passing them to the underlying system. Moreover, Altair GraphQL Client also does not isolate the context of the renderer process. This affects versions of the software running on MacOS, Windows, and Linux. Version 5.2.5 fixes this issue.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-43799?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Altairgraphql Altair.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-43799?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-43799 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-43799 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-43799 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-43799 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-43799 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in altair-graphql altair, published on 4 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-43799 exists.

Affected product: altair-graphql altair. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-43799/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-43799/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-43799
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-43799
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-43799

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-43799/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.