CVE-2026-23665
Published: 10 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-23665 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Microsoft Linux Diagnostic Extension. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 10.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-23665 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability, associated with CWE-122 and CWE-787, affecting Azure Linux Virtual Machines. Published on 2026-03-10, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for significant impact with relatively low barriers to exploitation.
The vulnerability enables a local authorized attacker with low privileges to exploit the heap-based buffer overflow, achieving privilege escalation on the affected Azure Linux Virtual Machine. Exploitation requires local access and low attack complexity, with no user interaction needed, potentially granting the attacker high-level confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
Microsoft's update guide provides details on mitigation and patching for CVE-2026-23665, available at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23665. Security practitioners should consult this resource for specific remediation steps.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-10586
Vulnerability details
Heap-based buffer overflow in Azure Linux Virtual Machines allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Heap buffer overflow in Azure Linux VM directly enables local privilege escalation by a low-privileged attacker.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires timely remediation of flaws like this heap-based buffer overflow through patching as referenced in Microsoft's update guide.
Implements memory protection safeguards such as ASLR and DEP to prevent exploitation of heap buffer overflows for privilege escalation.
Enforces least privilege to limit the initial access and potential impact of local low-privilege attackers exploiting the vulnerability.