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MdadmApplication · Mdadm Project

CVE-2023-28736

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.2 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Buffer overflow in some Intel(R) SSD Tools software before version mdadm-4.2-rc2 may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in Intel SSD Tools (mdadm) versions before 4.2-rc2 allows a privileged local user to potentially escalate privileges via crafted input that overflows a buffer and gains execution control.

MitigationUpdate mdadm to version 4.2-rc2 or later. Verify RAID array integrity after update and test privilege escalation scenarios to confirm remediation.

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
MdadmApplication
Affected:< 4.2= 4.2

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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. Check if mdadm is installed
    Run 'which mdadm' or 'dpkg -l mdadm' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -q mdadm' (RHEL/CentOS)
    Affected if mdadm is not found on the system (not applicable)
  2. Identify installed mdadm version
    Run 'mdadm --version' or 'mdadm --v' and note the version number in the output
    Affected if Cannot determine version from output
  3. Compare version to affected ranges
    Compare the installed version number to the affected versions: any version < 4.2 or exactly version 4.2 is vulnerable. Version 4.2-rc2 or later is fixed.
    Affected if Installed version is less than 4.2, or installed version equals exactly 4.2
  4. Verify mdadm binary location and permissions
    Run 'ls -la $(which mdadm)' to check ownership and permissions. Run 'id' to check current user privileges.
    Affected if mdadm is owned by root with setuid bit, and current user has access to execute it (prerequisite for privilege escalation)
  5. Check for recent mdadm execution logs
    Review system logs in /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog for mdadm commands, or check 'ps aux | grep mdadm' for running processes
    Affected if mdadm has been recently executed on the system

The system is affected if mdadm is installed and the installed version is any version before 4.2-rc2, including version 4.2 exactly.

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 4.2 or later
Fixed in 4.2
Interim mitigation

Update mdadm to version 4.2-rc2 or later. Verify RAID array integrity after update and test privilege escalation scenarios to confirm remediation.

Recommended fix High confidence

mdadm version 4.2 or later (including mdadm-4.2-rc2 and subsequent stable releases)

  1. 1. Check the current mdadm version installed on the system using: mdadm --version
  2. 2. If the installed version is less than 4.2 or exactly 4.2, upgrade to mdadm version 4.2 or later
  3. 3. On Debian/Ubuntu-based systems, run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install mdadm
  4. 4. On RHEL/CentOS/Fedora-based systems, run: sudo yum update mdadm or sudo dnf update mdadm
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by running: mdadm --version
  6. 6. If upgrading via source compilation, download mdadm-4.2 or later from the official upstream repository or your distribution's package sources
Caveat Minimal risk; this is a bugfix/security update release. However, always test in a non-production environment first and review release notes for any configuration changes.

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

Fix this in Mdadm Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,224.

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-2023-28736 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