Security Resilience

CVE-2023-3354

Memory Safety in Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.0 … 9.0

Memory Safety
Published
11 July 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.016 75th percentile
Risk Priority 61 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-3354 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked in the top 25% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in the QEMU built-in VNC server. When a client connects to the VNC server, QEMU checks whether the current number of connections crosses a certain threshold and if so, cleans up the previous connection. If the…

more

previous connection happens to be in the handshake phase and fails, QEMU cleans up the connection again, resulting in a NULL pointer dereference issue. This could allow a remote unauthenticated client to cause a denial of service.

CWE(s)
CWE-476

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
attack.mitre.org →
T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth
Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-6683Same product: Qemu Qemu
CVE-2023-40546Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-2731Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-6679Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-6622Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-42754Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-1667Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-3255Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-3772Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-6693Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora

Affected Assets

qemu
qemu
8.1.0 · ≤ 8.1.0
redhat
openstack platform
13.0
redhat
enterprise linux
7.0, 8.0, 9.0
fedoraproject
fedora
38

Mitigating Controls

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 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References