Kernel information disclosure via premature GEM dereference
Published Jul 24, 2023 · Updated Feb 18, 2026
A race condition in the vmwgfx driver in Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows local users with high privileges to read kernel data. vmw_user_bo_lookup and vmw_gem_object_create_with_handle release GEM references before kernel callers finish, letting userspace predict and destroy a still-used buffer. Exploitation requires high local privileges and reachability of the vmwgfx device; the reported consequence is kernel-context information disclosure.
Summary
What happened
A race condition in the vmwgfx driver in Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows local users with high privileges to read kernel data. vmw_user_bo_lookup and vmw_gem_object_create_with_handle release GEM references before kernel callers finish, letting userspace predict and destroy a still-used buffer. Exploitation requires high local privileges and reachability of the vmwgfx device; the reported consequence is kernel-context information disclosure.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-33951
- Published
- Jul 24, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 18, 2026
- Vendor
- Red Hat
- Product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Classifications
- CWE-362, CWE-667, CWE-413, T1005
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 24, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 18, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Affected versions are unavailable in this record. Check the vendor advisory for version and patch details.
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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