CVE-2023-3889VulnerabilityPublished 7 Nov 2023Updated 16 Dec 2025

CVE-2023-3889: Arm Valhall GPU Kernel Driver · Memory Buffer Overflow

Affects Arm Valhall GPU Kernel DriverSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.8High

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 7% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
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: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 7 Nov 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 2026-10-26.

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 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

1. Monitor Arm Ltd communications closely for official patches or firmware updates addressing CVE-2023-3889 and apply them promptly once available. 2. Restrict local user access to systems with Valhall GPU drivers to trusted personnel only, minimizing the risk of local exploitation. 3. Employ strict access controls and endpoint security solutions to detect and prevent unauthorized local activity. 4. Use kernel-level memory protection and hardening techniques such as Kernel Address Space Layout Randomization (KASLR) and memory tagging if supported by the platform. 5. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments on embedded and mobile devices using Arm GPUs. 6. For organizations developing custom firmware or drivers, review and harden GPU memory management code to prevent similar buffer boundary violations. 7. Implement robust logging and monitoring to detect anomalous GPU memory operations indicative of exploitation attempts. 8. Educate users and administrators about the risks of local privilege escalation vulnerabilities and enforce least privilege principles.

Description

CVE-2023-3889 is a high-severity vulnerability in the Arm Ltd Valhall GPU Kernel Driver (version r38p0) that allows a local non-privileged user to perform improper GPU memory operations. This flaw involves improper restriction of operations within memory buffer bounds, potentially enabling access to freed memory areas. Exploitation could lead to full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system without requiring user interaction. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the vulnerability poses a significant risk due to its high CVSS score of 7.8. European organizations using devices with Arm Valhall GPUs, especially in embedded or mobile environments, should prioritize patching and monitoring. Mitigation includes applying vendor patches once available, restricting local user access, and employing memory protection mechanisms. Countries with strong mobile and embedded device markets, such as Germany, France, and the UK, are more likely to be impacted. The vulnerability’s ease of exploitation by local users and its broad impact on system security classify it as a high-severity threat.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2023-3889 can be significant, especially for those relying on devices or systems incorporating Arm Valhall GPUs, such as smartphones, embedded systems, and IoT devices. Successful exploitation could allow attackers to bypass memory protections, leading to unauthorized data access, privilege escalation, or denial of service. This could compromise sensitive corporate or personal data, disrupt critical services, and undermine trust in affected hardware platforms. Industries such as telecommunications, manufacturing, automotive, and critical infrastructure that use embedded Arm GPUs are particularly at risk. The local attack vector means insider threats or compromised endpoints could be leveraged to exploit this vulnerability. Given the high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts, organizations may face regulatory and compliance challenges under frameworks like GDPR if breaches occur.

Summary

CVE-2023-3889 is a vulnerability identified in the Arm Ltd Valhall GPU Kernel Driver, specifically version r38p0. It is categorized under CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) and CWE-667 (Improper Locking). The flaw arises because the driver does not properly restrict GPU memory processing operations, allowing a local non-privileged user to perform carefully crafted operations that access memory regions that have already been freed. This can lead to use-after-free conditions, which attackers can exploit to read or write arbitrary memory, potentially escalating privileges or causing system instability. The vulnerability requires local access and low complexity to exploit, with no user interaction needed. The CVSS v3.1 score is 7.8, reflecting high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While no public exploits are known, the vulnerability’s presence in a widely used GPU kernel driver in embedded and mobile devices makes it a critical concern. The lack of available patches at the time of reporting necessitates immediate attention to access controls and monitoring for suspicious local activity.

CWE-119Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: High
The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Requirements · Language Selection
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables (opens in a new tab)
Overflow Buffers (opens in a new tab)
Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
MIME Conversion (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-667Improper Locking (opens in a new tab)
Class weakness
The product does not properly acquire or release a lock on a resource, leading to unexpected resource state changes and behaviors.
Implementation · Libraries or Frameworks
Use industry standard APIs to implement locking mechanism.
Attack patterns
Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links (opens in a new tab)
Forced Deadlock (opens in a new tab)
Leveraging Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

developer.arm.com/Arm%20Security%20Center/Mali%20GPU%20Driver%20Vulnerabilities (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 23 Dec 2025, 18:35 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-119, CWE-667

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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