CVE-2023-50260 Wazuh's vulnerability in host_deny AR script allows arbitrary command execution
Attackers can inject commands into the hosts.deny file via the host_deny script, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation on Wazuh servers and agents.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2023-50260?
CVE-2023-50260 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Wazuh Wazuh, published on 19 Apr 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Wazuh is a free and open source platform used for threat prevention, detection, and response. A wrong validation in the `host_deny` script allows to write any string in the `hosts.deny` file, which can end in an arbitrary command execution on the target system. This vulnerability is part of the active response feature, which can automatically triggers actions in response to alerts. By default, active responses are limited to a set of pre defined executables. This is enforced by only allowing executables stored under `/var/ossec/active-response/bin` to be run as an active response. However, the `/var/ossec/active-response/bin/host_deny` can be exploited. `host_deny` is used to add IP address to the `/etc/hosts.deny` file to block incoming connections on a service level by using TCP wrappers. Attacker can inject arbitrary command into the `/etc/hosts.deny` file and execute arbitrary command by using the spawn directive. The active response can be triggered by writing events either to the local `execd` queue on server or to the `ar` queue which forwards the events to agents. So, it can leads to LPE on server as root and RCE on agent as root. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.7.2.
Weakness: CWE-94
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-50260?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Wazuh Wazuh.
How do I fix CVE-2023-50260?
No fix has been published for CVE-2023-50260 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.
Is CVE-2023-50260 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-50260 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in Wazuh Wazuh
- CVE-2025-24016 Wazuh Server Deserialization of Untrusted Data
- CVE-2024-32038 Wazuh Analysis Engine Event Decoder Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2021-44079 Command injection in n/a
- CVE-2024-1243 Remote code execution and local privilege escalation in Wazuh Windows agent via NetNTLMv2 hash theft
- CVE-2026-61800 Wazuh cluster worker file sync allows arbitrary file write under /var/ossec (incomplete fix for CVE-2026-30893)
Sources
Also known as GHSA-mjq2-xf8g-68vw.