dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-33203

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.9 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
The Linux kernel before 6.2.9 has a race condition and resultant use-after-free in drivers/net/ethernet/qualcomm/emac/emac.c if a physically proximate attacker unplugs an emac based device.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-362

Two operations that should be atomic can interleave, so an attacker who wins a narrow timing window reaches an inconsistent, exploitable state. These bugs are subtle and easy to miss in review. Fixing them properly means correct locking or atomic operations around the shared resource.

General guidance for the race condition class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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:< 6.2.9
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0

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
Physical
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 6.2.9 or later
Fixed in 6.2.9
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.2.9 or later / Enterprise Linux kernel-rt or security kernel packages

  1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. For Enterprise Linux 8.0/9.0: Check if a vendor patch is available via 'dnf update --list' or contact Red Hat for kernel-*.rpm security updates
  3. If no vendor patch available, plan for kernel upgrade to version 6.2.9 or later
  4. Backup critical data before kernel upgrade
  5. Upgrade kernel via distribution package manager (e.g., 'dnf update kernel' for RHEL-based) or recompile from source using commit 6b6bc5b8bd2d4ca9e1efa9ae0f98a0b0687ace75
  6. Reboot into the new kernel
  7. Verify the fix is applied by checking the emac.c driver version or commit ID in /boot/config-* or via 'modinfo emac' if built as module
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching kernel modules; ensure driver compatibility before rebooting

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-33203 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