Security Resilience

CVE-2023-4211

Memory Safety in Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver r41p0 – r43p0

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
01 October 2023
Modified
26 February 2026
KEV Added
03 October 2023
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
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:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.011 65th percentile
Risk Priority 75 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-2023-4211 is a medium-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked in the top 35% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

A use-after-free vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-4211 affects the Arm Mali GPU driver. The flaw stems from improper GPU memory processing operations that allow a local non-privileged user to access memory that has already been freed, corresponding to CWE-416 and carrying a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.5 with high confidentiality impact.

A local attacker with low privileges can trigger the condition through crafted GPU operations to read sensitive data from freed memory regions. No user interaction or elevated rights are required, limiting the attack to the local system but enabling direct information disclosure.

Arm has published driver updates addressing the Mali GPU vulnerabilities on its security advisory page. The issue also appears in CISA's catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities, confirming real-world exploitation activity.

EPSS for the CVE rose sharply from a low baseline to a peak of 0.2126 on 2023-10-05 before receding to its current value of 0.0020, indicating a temporary surge in exploitation interest following disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A local non-privileged user can make improper GPU memory processing operations to gain access to already freed memory.

CWE(s)
CWE-416
KEV Date Added
03 October 2023

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 →
T1003.001 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 →
T1003.004 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 →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
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 →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2021-29256Same product: Arm Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driverboth on KEV
CVE-2021-28663Same product: Arm Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driverboth on KEV
CVE-2022-38181Same product: Arm Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driverboth on KEV
CVE-2024-4610Same product: Arm Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driverboth on KEV
CVE-2023-6143Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2024-0671Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2023-6241Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2025-0427Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2025-3212Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2023-5427Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver

Affected Assets

arm
5th gen gpu architecture kernel driver
r41p0 — r43p0
arm
bifrost gpu kernel driver
r0p0 — r43p0
arm
midgard gpu kernel driver
r12p0 — r32p0
arm
valhall gpu kernel driver
r19p0 — r43p0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.3

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SI-16 Memory Protection
addresses: CWE-416

Use-after-free exploits that achieve arbitrary code execution are blocked or significantly hardened by non-executable pages and ASLR.

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.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

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.5.30 ICT readiness for business continuity 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-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416

References