Kernel crash or disclosure via unlocked policy replacement
Published Aug 29, 2023 · Updated Feb 27, 2025
Use-after-free in mm/mempolicy.c in Linux Kernel allows local users to crash the system or disclose kernel memory through a race. mbind() replaces a VMA's vm_policy pointer and frees the old policy without the per-VMA write lock while a concurrent page fault can still use it. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, a kernel built with CONFIG_NUMA, and winning the race; the result is a crash, memory disclosure, or memory corruption.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in mm/mempolicy.c in Linux Kernel allows local users to crash the system or disclose kernel memory through a race. mbind() replaces a VMA's vm_policy pointer and frees the old policy without the per-VMA write lock while a concurrent page fault can still use it. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, a kernel built with CONFIG_NUMA, and winning the race; the result is a crash, memory disclosure, or memory corruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-4611
- Published
- Aug 29, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 27, 2025
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 29, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 27, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
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.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo