CVE-2023-30623 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) CWE-77 vulnerability in embano1/wip. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for embano1/wip — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Arbitrary command injection in embano1/wip
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-30623.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-30623 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
embano1/wipReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects GitHub Actions packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
embano1/wip is a GitHub Action written in Bash. Prior to version 2, the embano1/wip action uses the github.event.pull_request.title parameter in an insecure way. The title parameter is used in a run statement - resulting in a command injection vulnerability due to string interpolation. This vulnerability can be triggered by any user on GitHub. They just need to create a pull request with a commit message containing an exploit. (Note that first-time PR requests will not be run - but the attacker can submit a valid PR before submitting an invalid PR). The commit can be genuine, but the commit message can be malicious. This can be used to execute code on the GitHub runners and can be used to exfiltrate any secrets used in the CI pipeline, including repository tokens. Version 2 has a fix for this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦GitHub Actions | embano1/wip | all versions | 2 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for embano1/wip, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update embano1/wip to 2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-30623 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-30623 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-30623. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-30623 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-30623 across GitHub Actions dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.