CVE-2023-30844
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints
Mutagen provides real-time file synchronization and flexible network forwarding for developers. Prior to versions 0.16.6 and 0.17.1 in mutagen and prior to version 0.17.1 in mutagen-compose, Mutagen list and monitor commands are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This could cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters were present in error messages or file paths/names. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution. The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged. As a workaround, avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
3.0
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints
Mutagen provides real-time file synchronization and flexible network forwarding for developers. Prior to versions 0.16.6 and 0.17.1 in mutagen and prior to version 0.17.1 in mutagen-compose, Mutagen list and monitor commands are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This could cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters were present in error messages or file paths/names. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution. The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged. As a workaround, avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
- Record
CVE-2023-30844- CVSS 3.1
- 3.0 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-1571
3.0
Mutagen provides real-time file synchronization and flexible network forwarding for developers. Prior to versions 0.16.6 and 0.17.1 in mutagen and prior to version 0.17.1 in mutagen-compose, Mutagen list and monitor commands are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This could cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters were present in error messages or file paths/names. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution. The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged. As a workaround, avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
- Record
EUVD-2023-1571- CVSS 3.1
- 3.0 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-jmp2-wc4p-wfh2
3.0
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints
Impact
Mutagen command line operations, as well as the log output from mutagen daemon run, are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This can cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters are present in error messages, file paths/names, and/or log output. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution.
Patches
The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged.
One caveat is that the templating functionality of Mutagen's list and monitor commands has been only partially patched. In particular, the json template function already provided escaping and no patching was necessary. However, raw template output has been left unescaped because this raw output may be necessary for commands which embed Mutagen. To aid these commands, a new shellSanitize template function has been added which provides control character neutralization in strings.
Workarounds
Avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
References
A similar issue can be seen in kubernetes/kubernetes#101695.
- Record
GHSA-jmp2-wc4p-wfh2- CVSS 3.1
- 3.0 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-116, CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
3.0
Mutagen provides real-time file synchronization and flexible network forwarding for developers. Prior to versions 0.16.6 and 0.17.1 in mutagen and prior to version 0.17.1 in mutagen-compose, Mutagen list and monitor commands are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This could cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters were present in error messages or file paths/names. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution. The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged. As a workaround, avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
- Record
CVE-2023-30844- CVSS 3.1
- 3.0 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-150, CWE-116
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
3.0
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints
Mutagen provides real-time file synchronization and flexible network forwarding for developers. Prior to versions 0.16.6 and 0.17.1 in mutagen and prior to version 0.17.1 in mutagen-compose, Mutagen list and monitor commands are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This could cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters were present in error messages or file paths/names. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution. The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged. As a workaround, avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
- Record
CVE-2023-30844- CVSS 3.1
- 3.0 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-jmp2-wc4p-wfh2
3.0
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints
Impact
Mutagen command line operations, as well as the log output from mutagen daemon run, are susceptible to control characters that could be provided by remote endpoints. This can cause terminal corruption, either intentional or unintentional, if these characters are present in error messages, file paths/names, and/or log output. This could be used as an attack vector if synchronizing with an untrusted remote endpoint, synchronizing files not under control of the user, or forwarding to/from an untrusted remote endpoint. On very old systems with terminals susceptible to issues such as CVE-2003-0069, the issue could theoretically cause code execution.
Patches
The problem has been patched in Mutagen v0.16.6 and v0.17.1. Earlier versions of Mutagen are no longer supported and will not be patched. Versions of Mutagen after v0.18.0 will also have the patch merged.
One caveat is that the templating functionality of Mutagen's list and monitor commands has been only partially patched. In particular, the json template function already provided escaping and no patching was necessary. However, raw template output has been left unescaped because this raw output may be necessary for commands which embed Mutagen. To aid these commands, a new shellSanitize template function has been added which provides control character neutralization in strings.
Workarounds
Avoiding synchronization of untrusted files or interaction with untrusted remote endpoints should mitigate any risk.
References
A similar issue can be seen in kubernetes/kubernetes#101695.
- Record
GHSA-jmp2-wc4p-wfh2- CVSS 3.1
- 3.0 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-116, CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1764 No score
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints in github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen
Mutagen list and monitor operations do not neutralize control characters in text controlled by remote endpoints in github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen
- Record
GO-2023-1764- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagenGo |
before 0.16.6 | 0.16.6 |
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen-composeGo |
before 0.17.1 | 0.17.1 |
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagenGo |
0.17.0 up to 0.17.1 | 0.17.1 |
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagenGo |
before 0.16.6, 0.17.0 up to 0.17.1 | 0.16.60.17.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-30844 is a low vulnerability (CVSS 3.0) in Mutagen, published May 5, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.74%, the 54th percentile. Fixed in github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen 0.16.6.
References
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen/security/advisories/GHSA-jmp2-wc4p-wfh2
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen/releases/tag/v0.16.6
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen/releases/tag/v0.17.1
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-30844
github.com/advisories/GHSA-jmp2-wc4p-wfh2
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/30xxx/CVE-2023-30844.json
github.com/mutagen-io/mutagen