CVE-2023-5158

Host crash via zero-length virtio descriptor

Published Sep 25, 2023 · Updated Feb 27, 2025

Denial of service in the Linux kernel's virtio ring handling allows guest OS users to crash the host through a zero-length descriptor. vringh_iov_xfer passes a zero part length to vringh_kiov_advance, which returns without incrementing the current iov index. A guest able to submit the crafted virtio descriptor triggers the nonadvancing loop and crashes the host kernel.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in the Linux kernel's virtio ring handling allows guest OS users to crash the host through a zero-length descriptor. vringh_iov_xfer passes a zero part length to vringh_kiov_advance, which returns without incrementing the current iov index. A guest able to submit the crafted virtio descriptor triggers the nonadvancing loop and crashes the host kernel.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-5158
Published
Sep 25, 2023
Updated
Feb 27, 2025
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-684, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 25, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 27, 2025Record 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 buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

6.5Red Hat, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-684Incorrect Provision of Specified Functionality
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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

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Your stack

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