Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-40551

Memory Safety in Redhat Enterprise Linux 8.0 … 9.0

Published
29 January 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0039 32th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-40551 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 5.1 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 32th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in the MZ binary format in Shim. An out-of-bounds read may occur, leading to a crash or possible exposure of sensitive data during the system's boot phase.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-40549Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-40550Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-43788Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-43789Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-4156Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-39192Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-39193Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-4535Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-39194Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-39189Same 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-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

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 in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
detects

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References