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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2024-53920 json

In elisp-mode.el in GNU Emacs before 30.1, a user who chooses to invoke elisp-completion-at-point (for code completion) on untrusted Emacs…

published last yr. modified last mo. also EUVD-2024-52189

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.6%
EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 49%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In elisp-mode.el in GNU Emacs before 30.1, a user who chooses to invoke elisp-completion-at-point (for code completion) on untrusted Emacs Lisp source code can trigger unsafe Lisp macro expansion that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code. (This unsafe expansion also occurs if a user chooses to enable on-the-fly diagnosis that byte compiles untrusted Emacs Lisp source code.)

Patch / fix

  • gnu emacs 30.1
  • emacs Debian 12 1:28.2+1-15+deb12u4
  • emacs Debian 14, Debian 13 1:30.1+1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53920

  • emacs Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 1:26.3+1-1ubuntu2+esm2
  • emacs Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS 1:27.1+1-3ubuntu5.2+esm1
  • emacs Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS 1:29.3+1-1ubuntu2+esm3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53920

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • emacs RHEL 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-nox RHEL 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-lucid RHEL 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-common RHEL 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-terminal RHEL 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-filesystem RHEL 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs RHEL 9 1:27.2-14.el9_6.2
  • emacs-nox RHEL 9 1:27.2-14.el9_6.2

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:11030RHSA-2025:9448RHSA-2025:4794RHSA-2025:4793RHSA-2025:4787

  • emacs SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS +10 more 27.2-150400.3.26.1
  • emacs SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES 15 SP4-LTSS, SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP6 +9 more 27.2-150400.3.20.2

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:0798-1SUSE-SU-2024:4392-1

  • emacs openSUSE Tumbleweed 29.4-11.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:14591-1

  • emacs AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-lucid AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-common AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs-terminal AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10
  • emacs AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-14.el9_6.2
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-14.el9_6.2
  • emacs-lucid AlmaLinux 9 1:27.2-14.el9_6.2

almalinux advisories ALSA-2025:11030ALSA-2025:9448ALSA-2025:4787

  • emacs Rocky Linux 9 1:27.2-14.el9_6.2
  • emacs Rocky Linux 9 1:27.2-11.el9_5.2
  • emacs Rocky Linux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2025:9448RLSA-2025:4787RLSA-2025:11030

  • emacs CBL-Mariner 2.0, Azure Linux 3.0 29.4-3

azure linux advisories AZL-53558AZL-53703

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2024-53920 updated cvss 7.8

emacs: arbitrary code execution via Lisp macro expansion

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common, emacs-terminal, emacs-filesystem
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Discovery 2 discovery 2.0.0-1752592913
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:11487
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) emacs 26.1-15.el8_10, emacs-nox 26.1-15.el8_10, emacs-lucid 26.1-15.el8_10, emacs-common 26.1-15.el8_10, emacs-terminal 26.1-15.el8_10
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:11030
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) emacs 27.2-11.el9_5.2, emacs 27.2-14.el9_6.2, emacs-nox 27.2-11.el9_5.2, emacs-nox 27.2-14.el9_6.2, emacs-lucid 27.2-11.el9_5.2, emacs-lucid 27.2-14.el9_6.2, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:4787
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) emacs 29.4-13.el10_2, emacs-nw 29.4-13.el10_2, emacs-lucid 29.4-13.el10_2, emacs-common 29.4-13.el10_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHBA-2026:22541
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.2) emacs 27.2-8.el9_2.3, emacs-nox 27.2-8.el9_2.3, emacs-lucid 27.2-8.el9_2.3, emacs-common 27.2-8.el9_2.3, emacs-filesystem 27.2-8.el9_2.3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:4794
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.4) emacs 27.2-10.el9_4.2, emacs-nox 27.2-10.el9_4.2, emacs-lucid 27.2-10.el9_4.2, emacs-common 27.2-10.el9_4.2, emacs-filesystem 27.2-10.el9_4.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:4793
show 3 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) emacs 26.1-15.el8_10, emacs-filesystem 26.1-15.el8_10
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:11030
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) emacs 29.4-13.el10_2, emacs-filesystem 29.4-13.el10_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHBA-2026:22541
  • Red Hat Discovery 2 discovery 2.0.0-1752593703
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
last yr.

Exploit prediction

0.60% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 49% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • gnu emacs

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.