VulnerabilityPublished 27 Mar 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-45924: NULL Pointer Dereference

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:54 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

9.8Critical

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

EPSS: 0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 60% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
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: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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 27 Mar 2024
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

Immediately restrict network access to systems running vulnerable versions of libglvnd, especially limiting exposure to untrusted networks and the internet.
Employ application-layer firewalls or network segmentation to isolate graphical servers and reduce attack surface.
Monitor system logs and network traffic for unusual activity related to GLX or X11 protocols, including unexpected crashes or segmentation faults.
Use containerization or sandboxing techniques to limit the impact of potential exploitation on critical systems.
Prepare for rapid deployment of patches or updates once they become available from libglvnd maintainers or Linux distribution vendors.
Consider disabling or restricting GLX usage on systems where it is not essential, or switch to alternative rendering methods if feasible.
Conduct thorough vulnerability scanning and penetration testing focused on graphical subsystems to identify exposure.
Educate system administrators and security teams about the vulnerability and ensure incident response plans include scenarios involving graphical subsystem compromises.

Description

libglxproto.c in OpenGL libglvnd bb06db5a was discovered to contain a segmentation violation via the function glXGetDrawableScreen(). NOTE: this is disputed because there are no common situations in which users require uninterrupted operation with an attacker-controller server.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2023-45924 can be significant, particularly for those relying on OpenGL libglvnd in graphics-intensive applications such as CAD software, scientific visualization, gaming, and multimedia production. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized code execution, data breaches, or service outages, affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical systems. Industries such as automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, and research institutions that use Linux-based graphical environments are especially vulnerable. The lack of authentication and user interaction requirements increases the risk of automated exploitation attempts. Additionally, the segmentation fault could be leveraged to disrupt services, causing operational downtime and financial losses. Although no known exploits exist currently, the high CVSS score suggests that attackers may develop exploits rapidly once details become widespread. The disputed nature of exploitation scenarios implies that the threat may be more relevant in environments where attackers can control or influence the server or graphical session, such as cloud-based graphical workstations or remote desktop services.

Summary

CVE-2023-45924 is a critical vulnerability identified in the OpenGL Vendor Neutral Dispatch library (libglvnd), specifically within the libglxproto.c source file. The flaw arises in the function glXGetDrawableScreen(), which is responsible for retrieving the screen associated with a drawable in the X Window System's GLX extension. The vulnerability manifests as a segmentation violation (CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference and CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow), which can be triggered remotely without any authentication or user interaction. This segmentation fault can be exploited by an attacker to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or cause a denial of service by crashing the affected process. The CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 reflects the high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, combined with the ease of exploitation over the network (AV:N), no privileges required (PR:N), and no user interaction needed (UI:N). Although the advisory notes dispute regarding the practical exploitation scenarios—citing the rarity of attacker-controlled servers in typical user environments—the vulnerability remains critical due to the potential for remote code execution and system compromise. No patches or fixes have been published at the time of this report, and no active exploitation has been observed in the wild. The vulnerability affects all versions of libglvnd that include the vulnerable code, though specific version details are not provided. The underlying issue stems from improper handling of drawable screen data, leading to memory corruption and segmentation faults.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-121Stack-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #14
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
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…
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Implementation
Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
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

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 18:56 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-476, CWE-121

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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