CVE-2023-1998
5.6 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2023-1998 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting linux linux_kernel. It was published on April 21, 2023 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.6 (MEDIUM).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.6, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.
Technical Description
The Linux kernel allows userspace processes to enable mitigations by calling prctl with PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL which disables the speculation feature as well as by using seccomp. We had noticed that on VMs of at least one major cloud provider, the kernel still left the victim process exposed to attacks in some cases even after enabling the spectre-BTI mitigation with prctl. The same behavior can be observed on a bare-metal machine when forcing the mitigation to IBRS on boot command line.
This happened because when plain IBRS was enabled (not enhanced IBRS), the kernel had some logic that determined that STIBP was not needed. The IBRS bit implicitly protects against cross-thread branch target injection. However, with legacy IBRS, the IBRS bit was cleared on returning to userspace, due to performance reasons, which disabled the implicit STIBP and left userspace threads vulnerable to cross-thread branch target injection against which STIBP protects.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from linux. Update linux_kernel to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 0, < 6.3 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2023-1998?
CVE-2023-1998 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting linux linux_kernel. It was published on April 21, 2023 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.6 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2023-1998?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.6, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2023-1998?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from linux. Update linux_kernel to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2023-1998?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2023-1998 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
Automated penetration testing that runs continuously, not just quarterly.
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