Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-2603

Memory Safety in Redhat Enterprise Linux 8.0 … 9.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
06 June 2023
Modified
02 December 2025
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0057 44th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-2603 is a high-severity Integer Overflow or Wraparound (CWE-190) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 44th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability was found in libcap. This issue occurs in the _libcap_strdup() function and can lead to an integer overflow if the input string is close to 4GiB.

CWE(s)
CWE-190

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-34151Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-2602Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-5849Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-2136Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-33204Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-41175Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2026-4775Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-40745Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-6345Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-6478Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

libcap project
libcap
≤ 2.69
redhat
enterprise linux
8.0, 9.0
fedoraproject
fedora
37, 38
debian
debian linux
11.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.6

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require use of safe arithmetic, bounds checks, and testing that prevent integer overflows.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development can detect integer overflows before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and arithmetic checks that prevent integer overflows.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
degrades

Application security requirements include bounds checking and safe arithmetic to avoid overflow conditions.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
degrades

Secure architecture principles require defensive coding patterns that mitigate integer wraparound risks.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe integer operations and mandate overflow-safe constructs.

References