Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-6241

Memory Safety in Arm Valhall Gpu Kernel Driver r19p0 – r26p0

Memory Safety
Published
04 March 2024
Modified
13 March 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0072 51th percentile
Risk Priority 61 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-6241 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Arm Valhall Gpu Kernel Driver. Its CVSS base score is 7.0 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked in the top 49% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

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

CVE-2023-6241 is a use-after-free vulnerability caused by a software race condition in the Arm Mali GPU kernel drivers. It affects the Midgard GPU Kernel Driver from r13p0 through r32p0, the Bifrost GPU Kernel Driver from r11p0 through r25p0, the Valhall GPU Kernel Driver from r19p0 through r25p0 and r29p0 through r46p0, and the Arm 5th Gen GPU Architecture Kernel Driver from r41p0 through r46p0. The flaw permits improper memory processing operations when an attacker carefully prepares system memory.

A local non-privileged user can trigger the race condition to induce the use-after-free. Successful exploitation yields high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, reflected in the CVSS 7.0 score that requires local access and high attack complexity.

Arm has published mitigation guidance and driver updates addressing the issue in its Mali GPU Driver Vulnerabilities advisory, available at the referenced developer.arm.com URLs. The associated EPSS score has remained essentially flat near 0.12 with no material post-disclosure increase.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Use After Free vulnerability in Arm Ltd Midgard GPU Kernel Driver, Arm Ltd Bifrost GPU Kernel Driver, Arm Ltd Valhall GPU Kernel Driver, Arm Ltd Arm 5th Gen GPU Architecture Kernel Driver allows a local non-privileged user to exploit a…

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software race condition to perform improper memory processing operations. If the system’s memory is carefully prepared by the user, then this in turn cause a use-after-free.This issue affects Midgard GPU Kernel Driver: from r13p0 through r32p0; Bifrost GPU Kernel Driver: from r11p0 through r25p0; Valhall GPU Kernel Driver: from r19p0 through r25p0, from r29p0 through r46p0; Arm 5th Gen GPU Architecture Kernel Driver: from r41p0 through r46p0.

CWE(s)
CWE-416

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-4211Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2023-6143Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2024-0671Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2024-3655Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2025-0427Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2024-2937Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2021-29256Same product: Arm Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driver
CVE-2023-5427Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver
CVE-2021-28663Same product: Arm Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driver
CVE-2024-1065Same product: Arm 5Th Gen Gpu Architecture Kernel Driver

Affected Assets

arm
5th gen gpu architecture kernel driver
r41p0 — r47p0
arm
bifrost gpu kernel driver
r11p0 — r26p0
arm
midgard gpu kernel driver
r13p0 — r32p0
arm
valhall gpu kernel driver
r19p0 — r26p0 · r29p0 — r47p0

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

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.

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

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

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

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

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

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

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` (authoritative 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. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416

References