CVE-2023-6915VulnerabilityPublished 15 Jan 2024Updated 6 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-6915: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.2 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 08:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.2Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 19% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
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: 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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within 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 15 Jan 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 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

To mitigate CVE-2023-6915, organizations should prioritize applying official kernel patches from Red Hat as soon as they are released. Until patches are available, restricting local access to trusted users only and enforcing strict access controls can reduce the risk of exploitation. Monitoring system logs and kernel crash reports can help detect attempts to trigger the vulnerability. Employing kernel hardening techniques such as Kernel Address Space Layout Randomization (KASLR) and enabling security modules like SELinux can provide additional layers of defense. Regularly updating and auditing user privileges to minimize local access reduces the attack surface. For environments where uptime is critical, consider implementing redundancy and failover mechanisms to maintain service availability in case of a crash. Finally, organizations should stay informed through Red Hat security advisories and coordinate with their IT teams to ensure timely deployment of fixes and continuous monitoring.

Description

A Null pointer dereference problem was found in ida_free in lib/idr.c in the Linux Kernel. This issue may allow an attacker using this library to cause a denial of service problem due to a missing check at a function return.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2023-6915 is on system availability due to the potential for denial of service caused by kernel crashes. For European organizations, especially those relying on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for critical infrastructure, server hosting, or enterprise applications, this vulnerability could lead to unexpected downtime, service interruptions, and potential operational disruptions. While it does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the loss of availability can affect business continuity, customer trust, and compliance with service level agreements. Organizations running multi-tenant environments or providing cloud services on affected platforms may face increased risk of service degradation. Additionally, sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government, which often utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux for secure and stable operations, could experience significant operational impacts if the vulnerability is exploited. The lack of required privileges lowers the barrier for exploitation by local users or attackers who have gained limited access, increasing the risk in environments with multiple users or less stringent access controls.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 6 Nov 2025, 20:59 UTC

Technical details

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