Security Resilience

CVE-2023-41325

Memory Safety in Trustedfirmware Op-Tee 3.20.0 – 3.22.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
15 September 2023
Modified
05 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0039 31th percentile
Risk Priority 50 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-2023-41325 is a high-severity Double Free (CWE-415) vulnerability in Trustedfirmware Op-Tee. Its CVSS base score is 7.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Steganography (T1001.002); ranked at the 31th 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

OP-TEE is a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) designed as companion to a non-secure Linux kernel running on Arm; Cortex-A cores using the TrustZone technology. Starting in version 3.20 and prior to version 3.22, `shdr_verify_signature` can make a double free. `shdr_verify_signature`…

more

used to verify a TA binary before it is loaded. To verify a signature of it, allocate a memory for RSA key. RSA key allocate function (`sw_crypto_acipher_alloc_rsa_public_key`) will try to allocate a memory (which is optee’s heap memory). RSA key is consist of exponent and modulus (represent as variable `e`, `n`) and it allocation is not atomic way, so it may succeed in `e` but fail in `n`. In this case sw_crypto_acipher_alloc_rsa_public_key` will free on `e` and return as it is failed but variable ‘e’ is remained as already freed memory address . `shdr_verify_signature` will free again that memory (which is `e`) even it is freed when it failed allocate RSA key. A patch is available in version 3.22. No known workarounds are available.

CWE(s)
CWE-415

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-45702Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-40290Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-40257Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-33662Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-41434Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-33317Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-53763Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-42546Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-44362Same product: Trustedfirmware Op-Tee
CVE-2026-34875Same vendor: Trustedfirmware

Affected Assets

trustedfirmware
op-tee
3.22.0 · 3.20.0 — 3.22.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 1 hardening rule · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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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 directly prevent double-free errors via static analysis, safe memory APIs, and testing.

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.5.32 Intellectual property rights partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248590 OL 8 must clear the page allocator to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-415

References