Security Resilience

CVE-2023-6377

Memory Safety in Debian Linux 10.0 … 12.0

Published
13 December 2023
Modified
23 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
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:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.016 75th percentile
Risk Priority 73 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-2023-6377 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 25% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV 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.

CVE-2023-6377 is an out-of-bounds memory access flaw in the xorg-server X11 implementation. The issue occurs when querying or modifying XKB button actions, such as during input device transitions between a touchpad and a mouse, and is tracked under CWE-125. It affects the core X server component used in most Linux graphical environments.

A local attacker with a valid X session can trigger the flaw to perform arbitrary reads and writes in the X server process, enabling local privilege escalation to root. When X11 forwarding is enabled over SSH or similar tunnels, the same primitive may be reachable remotely and can lead to code execution on the forwarded display server.

Red Hat has published multiple errata (RHSA-2023:7886 and the 2024:0006/0009/0010/0014 family) that deliver patched xorg-server packages for affected Enterprise Linux distributions; applying these updates is the primary mitigation.

EPSS for the CVE rose sharply from a low baseline to a peak of 0.3221 on 2025-01-22 before receding, indicating that meaningful exploitation interest developed well after the original disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in xorg-server. Querying or changing XKB button actions such as moving from a touchpad to a mouse can result in out-of-bounds memory reads and writes. This may allow local privilege escalation or possible remote code execution…

more

in cases where X11 forwarding is involved.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
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.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
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.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-50262Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2026-34000Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-42755Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-3773Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2026-1940Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-43788Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-6606Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-6121Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2016-1646Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-1380Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

redhat
enterprise linux eus
9.2
debian
debian linux
10.0, 11.0, 12.0
x.org
x server
≤ 21.1.10
x.org
xwayland
≤ 23.2.3
tigervnc
tigervnc
all versions

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.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

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

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

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

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

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.

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References