CVE-2023-39929
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 · uneditedUncontrolled search path in some Libva software maintained by Intel(R) before version 2.20.0 may allow an authenticated 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 · high confidenceLibva before version 2.20.0 contains an uncontrolled search path vulnerability that allows an authenticated local user to potentially escalate privileges by placing malicious libraries in a location that gets loaded by the application before legitimate libraries.
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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Libva is installedCheck for libva library files: look for /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libva.so* or run 'ldconfig -p | grep libva' on Linux systemsAffected if Libva is not present on the system (not affected)
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Determine installed Libva versionRun 'pkg-config --modversion libva' or check package manager: 'dpkg -l | grep libva' (Debian) / 'rpm -qa | grep libva' (RHEL/CentOS)Affected if Version cannot be determined or is below 2.20.0
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Confirm version is in affected rangeCompare the installed version number to 2.20.0 - any version starting with 2.19.x or earlier, or 2.18.x, 2.17.x etc. is vulnerableAffected if Installed version is 2.19.x or lower, or any version string that numerically precedes 2.20.0
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Identify library search pathsReview LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable and check common library directories (/usr/lib, /usr/local/lib) for world-writable permissions that could allow library injectionAffected if World-writable directories exist in or added to the library search path
The system is affected if Libva is installed with a version lower than 2.20.0 and the library search path contains directories writable by untrusted users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedUpgrade Libva to version 2.20.0 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
2.20.0
- Upgrade the Intel-maintained Libva software to version 2.20.0 or later.
- On Linux-based systems, this typically involves updating through the distribution's package manager (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get upgrade libva, or yum update libva) or recompiling from source.
- Verify the installed version matches or exceeds 2.20.0 using 'va-query' or checking the library version directly.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-39929 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-39929 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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