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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2023-6546: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · Use After Free

Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Source CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.0 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.0High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 54% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 21 Dec 2023

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

AI-suggested

  1. Apply official patches and updates from Red Hat as soon as they become available to address CVE-2023-6546.
  2. Restrict local user access to trusted personnel only, minimizing the risk of local exploitation.
  3. Disable the gsm line discipline if it is not required for operational purposes to reduce the attack surface.
  4. Implement strict access controls and monitoring on ioctl system calls, particularly GSMIOC_SETCONF, to detect anomalous or concurrent usage patterns.
  5. Employ kernel security modules (e.g., SELinux) to enforce least privilege and limit the capabilities of local users.
  6. Conduct regular audits of local user activities and system logs to identify potential exploitation attempts.
  7. For embedded or telecom devices using GSM multiplexing, ensure firmware and kernel components are updated and hardened against race conditions.
  8. Educate system administrators about the risks of race conditions and use-after-free vulnerabilities to improve incident response readiness.

Description

A race condition was found in the GSM 0710 tty multiplexor in the Linux kernel. This issue occurs when two threads execute the GSMIOC_SETCONF ioctl on the same tty file descriptor with the gsm line discipline enabled, and can lead to a use-after-free problem on a struct gsm_dlci while restarting the gsm mux. This could allow a local unprivileged user to escalate their privileges on the system.

References

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