VulnerabilityPublished 24 Jul 2023Updated 7 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-33951: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · Information Exposure

Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.7 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:54 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.7Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 27% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Jul 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

European organizations should prioritize applying official patches from Red Hat as soon as they become available to remediate CVE-2023-33951. Until patches are deployed, organizations should restrict local privileged access to trusted personnel only and implement strict access controls and monitoring on systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 with the vmwgfx driver enabled. Employing kernel-level security modules such as SELinux or AppArmor with strict policies can help limit the scope of potential exploitation. Regularly audit and monitor logs for unusual kernel or privilege escalation activities. In virtualized environments, ensure hypervisor and guest OS isolation is robust to prevent lateral movement. Consider disabling or limiting the use of the vmwgfx driver if graphical workloads are not required, reducing the attack surface. Maintain up-to-date inventory of affected systems to ensure comprehensive patch management. Finally, conduct security awareness training to reduce insider threat risks and enforce the principle of least privilege for all users.

Description

CVE-2023-33951 is a race condition vulnerability in the vmwgfx driver of the Linux kernel used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. It arises from improper locking during operations on GEM objects, allowing a local privileged user to disclose sensitive kernel memory information. The vulnerability requires local privileged access but no user interaction and can lead to a confidentiality breach with limited impact on integrity and availability. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the flaw's presence in a widely used enterprise Linux distribution makes it a relevant concern. The CVSS score is 6.7 (medium severity), reflecting the moderate risk posed by this vulnerability. European organizations using RHEL 8, especially in sectors with high reliance on Linux servers, should prioritize patching once updates are available. Countries with significant enterprise Linux deployments and critical infrastructure running RHEL are at higher risk. Mitigation involves applying vendor patches promptly, restricting privileged local access, and monitoring for unusual kernel-level activity.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-33951 is the potential exposure of sensitive kernel memory to local privileged users, which can compromise confidentiality. This is particularly critical for organizations handling sensitive data or operating in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government. The vulnerability could facilitate further attacks by revealing cryptographic keys or other protected information, increasing the risk of privilege escalation or data breaches. Although the attack requires local privileged access, insider threats or compromised accounts could exploit this flaw. The limited impact on integrity and availability reduces the risk of system disruption but does not eliminate the threat to data confidentiality. Organizations relying on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 in virtualized environments or with graphical workloads are more susceptible. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not preclude future exploitation. Failure to address this vulnerability could lead to compliance issues with European data protection regulations such as GDPR if sensitive data is exposed.

Summary

CVE-2023-33951 is a race condition vulnerability identified in the vmwgfx driver of the Linux kernel, specifically affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. The vulnerability stems from improper locking mechanisms when handling Graphics Execution Manager (GEM) objects, which are used for managing graphics memory buffers. This flaw allows a local user with elevated privileges to exploit the race condition to disclose sensitive information from kernel memory. The vulnerability does not require user interaction but does require the attacker to have privileged local access, such as root or equivalent. The flaw impacts confidentiality by enabling unauthorized disclosure of kernel memory contents, which could include sensitive data such as cryptographic keys or other protected information. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.7, categorized as medium severity, with the vector indicating local attack vector (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), high privileges required (PR:H), no user interaction (UI:N), and scope changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability affects resources beyond the initially vulnerable component. There is no indication of integrity or availability impact beyond a low availability impact. No known exploits have been reported in the wild to date. The vulnerability was published on July 24, 2023, and is reserved under Red Hat's assigner. Since the vmwgfx driver is part of the Linux kernel graphics stack, the vulnerability primarily affects systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 with this driver enabled, which is common in enterprise environments using virtualized or graphical workloads. The race condition could be exploited by an attacker with local privileged access to gain unauthorized kernel memory disclosure, potentially aiding further privilege escalation or information gathering attacks.

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AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 14 Nov 2025, 13:47 UTC

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