VulnerabilityPublished 1 Oct 2023Updated 21 Oct 2025

CVE-2023-4211: Arm Midgard GPU Kernel Driver · Use After Free

Affects Arm Midgard GPU Kernel DriverSource CVE Database V5

Exploited in the wild · KEV due 24 Oct 2023 · 1% EPSS : apply the vendor's fix or mitigations to Arm Midgard GPU Kernel Driver now.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

KEV deadline: 24 Oct 2023 US federal agencies must patch by this date; a sensible deadline for everyone else. Other KEV due dates
EPSS: 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 65% 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:N/A:N

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

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: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 1 Oct 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: evidence found.
Listed in CISA KEV 2 days after disclosure
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

CVE ID reserved
by Arm Limited
7 Aug 202315:24 UTC, 55 days before disclosure
CVE published
on cve.org
1 Oct 202317:00 UTC, t = 0
Added to CISA KEV (opens in a new tab)
exploitation confirmed
3 Oct 2023, 2 days after disclosure
KEV remediation due
US federal deadline
24 Oct 2023, 23 days after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CISA KEV (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

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Description

A local non-privileged user can make improper GPU memory processing operations to gain access to already freed memory.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-4211 is the potential unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information from GPU memory on affected devices. This could include cryptographic keys, user data, or proprietary information processed by the GPU. Since the vulnerability requires local access, the risk is higher in environments where multiple users share devices or where endpoint security is weak. The flaw does not directly affect system integrity or availability, but information leakage could facilitate further attacks or espionage. Organizations relying on embedded systems, mobile devices, or specialized hardware using the Arm Midgard GPU driver are at risk. This includes sectors such as telecommunications, automotive, industrial control, and mobile device manufacturers or users. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity score and potential for sensitive data exposure warrant proactive mitigation. Failure to address this vulnerability could lead to compliance issues under GDPR if personal data is exposed.

Mitigation

1. Restrict local user access on devices running the affected Midgard GPU driver to trusted personnel only. 2. Implement strict endpoint security controls, including application whitelisting and behavior monitoring, to detect anomalous GPU memory operations. 3. Monitor system logs and GPU driver activity for unusual patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. 4. Segregate sensitive workloads and data from environments where untrusted local users have access. 5. Engage with Arm Ltd and device vendors to obtain patches or firmware updates as soon as they become available and apply them promptly. 6. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scans focusing on GPU drivers and related kernel modules. 7. Educate local users about the risks of unauthorized access and enforce strong authentication and access control policies. 8. Consider deploying memory protection mechanisms or kernel hardening techniques that can mitigate use-after-free vulnerabilities. 9. For organizations developing embedded or mobile products using Midgard GPUs, incorporate secure coding practices and thorough testing to detect similar vulnerabilities early.

CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
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)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

Timeline

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 21 Oct 2025, 20:03 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-416

Technical details

References

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