Local privilege escalation via BPF bounds overflow
Published May 17, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Integer overflow in the Linux kernel BPF verifier allows local users to gain kernel privileges by loading crafted BPF bytecode. The verifier performs stack-bound addition in 32-bit signed integers and fails to cap fixed register values before adding offsets as large as u32. Reachability requires the local bpf() syscall and low privileges when unprivileged BPF is enabled; successful exploitation grants kernel memory read/write or crashes the host.
Summary
What happened
Integer overflow in the Linux kernel BPF verifier allows local users to gain kernel privileges by loading crafted BPF bytecode. The verifier performs stack-bound addition in 32-bit signed integers and fails to cap fixed register values before adding offsets as large as u32. Reachability requires the local bpf() syscall and low privileges when unprivileged BPF is enabled; successful exploitation grants kernel memory read/write or crashes the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-52676
- Published
- May 17, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-190, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 17, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 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?
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- Affected versionversion=01f810ace9ed37255f27608a0864abebccf0aab3 <1d38a9ee81570c4bd61f557832dead4d6f816760
- Affected versionversion=01f810ace9ed37255f27608a0864abebccf0aab3 <ad140fc856f0b1d5e2215bcb6d0cc247a86805a2
- Affected versionversion=01f810ace9ed37255f27608a0864abebccf0aab3 <e5ad9ecb84405637df82732ee02ad741a5f782a6
- Affected versionversion=5.10.33 <5.11
- Affected versionversion=5.11.17 <5.12
- Affected versionversion=5.12
- Affected versionversion=d1b725ea5d104caea250427899f4e2e3ab15b4fc
- Affected versionversion=f3c4b01689d392373301e6e60d1b02c5b4020afc
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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