dbcve.org
Memory Buffer Bounds ErrorWeakness · CWE-119

CVE-2023-31351

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
55/100
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
Improper restriction of operations in the IOMMU could allow a malicious hypervisor to access guest private memory resulting in loss of integrity.

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

Improper restriction of operations in the IOMMU (Input-Output Memory Management Unit) allows a malicious hypervisor to bypass isolation boundaries and access guest private memory, resulting in loss of integrity. This is a vulnerability in how the IOMMU enforces memory access controls between the hypervisor and virtual machines.

MitigationApply vendor-provided patches or firmware updates that correct the IOMMU operation restrictions; verify hypervisor configurations enforce proper IOMMU isolation between VMs.

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

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
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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. Verify if IOMMU is enabled in the system
    On Linux, run 'dmesg | grep -i iommu' or check /proc/cmdline for iommu= parameters. On Windows, check BIOS/UEFI settings or use 'msinfo32' to look for IOMMU information.
    Affected if IOMMU is present and enabled in the system firmware and operating system
  2. Identify the hypervisor type and version
    Run commands such as 'systemd-machined' (for KVM), 'vmware -v' (for VMware), 'Get-VMHost' in PowerShell (for Hyper-V), or 'xl version' (for Xen). Check installed hypervisor packages and their versions.
    Affected if A hypervisor is running and its version cannot be confirmed as patched for CVE-2023-31351
  3. Check IOMMU passthrough or-grouper configuration
    For KVM/Xen, inspect VM configuration XML files for '<iommu>' settings. For KVM, check /etc/modprobe.d/ for iommu settings. For VMware, check VM configuration files for 'iommu.enabled' settings.
    Affected if IOMMU passthrough mode is enabled without confirmed vendor patches applied
  4. Verify hypervisor kernel or firmware version
    Check the hypervisor kernel version (uname -a for Linux hypervisors) or firmware/ESXi version. Compare against any available vendor security advisories for CVE-2023-31351.
    Affected if The running hypervisor kernel or firmware version predates the patch date for this CVE and IOMMU is active

A system is affected if it runs a hypervisor with IOMMU enabled and the hypervisor version is older than the vendor patch release date for CVE-2023-31351, or the patch status cannot be verified.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-provided patches or firmware updates that correct the IOMMU operation restrictions; verify hypervisor configurations enforce proper IOMMU isolation between VMs.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-31351 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-31351 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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