CVE-2023-0266
Published 2023-01-30 · Updated 2026-06-17 · Source cve-coordination@google.com
Summary
CVE-2023-0266 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.9) vulnerability in Linux Kernel. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on March 30, 2023, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed; US federal agencies had to remediate it by April 20, 2023. CISA does not currently list it as used in ransomware campaigns. Linux has 32 vulnerabilities in the KEV catalog, 2 of them linked to ransomware.
All 32 known-exploited Linux vulnerabilities →Description
A use after free vulnerability exists in the ALSA PCM package in the Linux Kernel. SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_ELEM_{READ|WRITE}32 is missing locks that can be used in a use-after-free that can result in a priviledge escalation to gain ring0 access from the system user. We recommend upgrading past commit 56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:H
CISA Known-Exploited Vulnerability
Product: Linux — Kernel
Name: Linux Kernel Use-After-Free Vulnerability
Date added: 2023-03-30 · Due: 2023-04-20
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
References
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git/tree/queue-5.10/alsa-pcm-move-rwsem-lock-inside-snd_ctl_elem_read-to-prevent-uaf.patch?id=72783cf35e6c55bca84c4bb7b776c58152856fd4
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/becf9e5d553c2389d857a3c178ce80fdb34a02e1
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/05/msg00006.html
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git/tree/queue-5.10/alsa-pcm-move-rwsem-lock-inside-snd_ctl_elem_read-to-prevent-uaf.patch?id=72783cf35e6c55bca84c4bb7b776c58152856fd4
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/becf9e5d553c2389d857a3c178ce80fdb34a02e1
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/05/msg00006.html

