CVE-2023-2163: Incorrect Verifier Branch Pruning Logic Leads To Arbitrary Read/Write In Linux Kernel and Lateral Privilege Escalation
- Is it exploited?
Reported, not confirmed by CISA. VulnCheck KEV lists it as exploited in the wild. CISA has not added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of .
VulnCheck KEV lists it since . It cites 1 public report, the first from .
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 3.6%
EPSS score, percentile 89.5 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.
- How severe?
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA
- What should I do?
CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
- Which versions are affected?
Affected
- before 71b547f56124
Unaffected before 5.4
Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of ; VulnCheck KEV, as of ; FIRST EPSS, as of ; CVE List, as of . About the data.
Description
Incorrect Verifier Branch Pruning Logic Leads To Arbitrary Read/Write In Linux Kernel and Lateral Privilege Escalation
Incorrect verifier pruning in BPF in Linux Kernel >=5.4 leads to unsafe code paths being incorrectly marked as safe, resulting in arbitrary read/write in kernel memory, lateral privilege escalation, and container escape.
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
What to do
Advisories and patches
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
This summary is based on the CVE record as of . Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.
Affected products and versions
Versions by product, as listed in the CVE record (1 product)
| Status | Versions |
|---|---|
| Unaffected | before 5.4 |
| Affected | before 71b547f56124 |
Versions not listed are: unaffected.
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
Weakness
CWE-682, 1 CAPEC
- CWE-682: Incorrect Calculation
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- CAPEC-233: Privilege Escalation
CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| CVE record published | |
| CVE record last updated |
References
1
Known exploited Linux vulnerabilities
- CVE-2026-46300: Linux Kernel Missing Initialization of a Variable Vulnerability
- CVE-2025-39682: Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Vulnerability
- CVE-2025-39964: Linux Kernel Race Condition Vulnerability
- CVE-2026-53266: Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability
- CVE-2026-53362: Linux Kernel Unspecified Vulnerability