Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-40546

Memory Safety in Redhat Enterprise Linux 8.0 … 9.0

Published
29 January 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0043 36th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-40546 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 6.2 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 36th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in Shim when an error happened while creating a new ESL variable. If Shim fails to create the new variable, it tries to print an error message to the user; however, the number of parameters used…

more

by the logging function doesn't match the format string used by it, leading to a crash under certain circumstances.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-40549Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-40550Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-40551Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-2731Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-42754Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-6622Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-6679Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-40548Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-3354Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-1667Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora

Affected Assets

redhat
shim
≤ 15.8
fedoraproject
fedora
39
redhat
enterprise linux
8.0, 9.0

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 mostly match
prevents

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.

detects

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References