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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-1670

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.312 / 4.19.280 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A flaw use after free in the Linux kernel Xircom 16-bit PCMCIA (PC-card) Ethernet driver was found.A local user could use this flaw to crash the system or potentially escalate their privileges on the system.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's Xircom 16-bit PCMCIA Ethernet driver (xirc2ps_cs). The flaw allows a local unprivileged user to potentially exploit freed memory to crash the system or escalate privileges to root. This is a classic memory management bug where a pointer to heap memory is used after that memory has been freed.

MitigationApply the upstream Linux kernel patch or update to a kernel version that includes the fix for CVE-2023-1670. Organizations should also consider disabling or blacklisting the xirc2ps_cs module on systems that do not require PCMCIA Ethernet support as a defense-in-depth measure.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 2.6.18, < 4.14.312>= 4.15, < 4.19.280>= 4.20, < 5.4.240>= 5.5, < 5.10.177>= 5.11, < 5.15.105>= 5.16, < 6.1.22>= 6.2, < 6.2.9

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify kernel version
    Run 'uname -r' to get the running kernel version. Compare it to the affected ranges: < 4.14.312, 4.14.312 to < 4.19.280, 4.19.280 to < 5.4.240, 5.4.240 to < 5.10.177, 5.10.177 to < 5.15.105, 5.15.105 to < 6.1.22, 6.2 to < 6.2.9
    Affected if The kernel version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed in the CVE
  2. Check if xirc2ps_cs module exists
    Run 'modinfo xirc2ps_cs' or check for the presence of the driver file in /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/
    Affected if The xirc2ps_cs module file exists in the kernel modules directory
  3. Determine if xirc2ps_cs is currently loaded
    Run 'lsmod | grep xirc2ps_cs' to check if the module is currently loaded into the kernel
    Affected if The module appears in the output of lsmod, indicating it is currently loaded
  4. Check if PCMCIA subsystem is enabled
    Run 'ls /sys/bus/pcmcia' or check for pcmcia_core module via 'lsmod | grep pcmcia'
    Affected if The PCMCIA subsystem is active on the system

A system is affected if it runs a kernel version within the affected ranges AND has the xirc2ps_cs PCMCIA driver available or loaded, as the use-after-free vulnerability exists specifically in this driver.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.14.312 / 4.19.280 / 5.4.240 or later
Fixed in 4.14.3124.19.2805.4.240
Interim mitigation

Apply the upstream Linux kernel patch or update to a kernel version that includes the fix for CVE-2023-1670. Organizations should also consider disabling or blacklisting the xirc2ps_cs module on systems that do not require PCMCIA Ethernet support as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

4.14.312, 4.19.280, 5.4.240, or 5.10.177 (or later stable release such as 5.15.x, 6.1.x)

  1. Check current kernel version with: uname -r
  2. Determine which affected version range your current kernel falls into
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version based on your branch: for 4.14.x upgrade to >= 4.14.312; for 4.19.x upgrade to >= 4.19.280; for 5.4.x upgrade to >= 5.4.240; for 5.10.x upgrade to >= 5.10.177
  4. For Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-generic (or specific version)
  5. For RHEL/CentOS: yum update kernel
  6. For source compilation: download fixed version from kernel.org, compile and install
  7. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules; verify hardware compatibility with newer kernel branches

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Linux Kernel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-1670 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data