‹ Back to list

CVE-2023-2163

Status: ModifiedHigh (8.8)—PoC
Severity8.8High · CVSS 3.1
Exploitation probability3.64 %higher than 89% of CVEs
Active exploitationNonot in the CISA catalog
Public exploitAvailableProof of concept on GitHub (unverified)

Incorrect verifier pruning in BPF in Linux Kernel >=5.4 leads to unsafe code paths being incorrectly marked as safe, resulting in arbitrary read/write in kernel memory, lateral privilege escalation, and container escape.

CVSS

Base score
8.8
Version
3.1
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
3.64 %
Percentile among all scored CVEs
89
Score date
10/20/2026

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

Public exploits

Exploit code or detection templates are publicly available. This is not the same as confirmed active exploitation (KEV), but it raises the risk: patch with priority.

⚠️ GitHub proofs of concept are not verified: some are fake or contain malware. Never run them outside an isolated lab.

Affected technologies (1)

Linux — Linux Kernel

CWEs

References

Show 3 references

Raw JSON (NVD)

Show
{
  "id": "CVE-2023-2163",
  "cveTags": [],
  "metrics": {
    "ssvcV203": [
      {
        "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
        "ssvcData": {
          "id": "CVE-2023-2163",
          "role": "CISA Coordinator",
          "options": [
            {
              "exploitation": "none"
            },
            {
              "automatable": "yes"
            },
            {
              "technicalImpact": "total"
            }
          ],
          "version": "2.0.3",
          "timestamp": "2025-02-26T21:50:53.136131Z"
        }
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "type": "Secondary",
        "source": "cve-coordination@google.com",
        "cvssData": {
          "scope": "CHANGED",
          "version": "3.1",
          "baseScore": 10,
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "availabilityImpact": "NONE",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH"
        },
        "impactScore": 5.8,
        "exploitabilityScore": 3.9
      },
      {
        "type": "Primary",
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "cvssData": {
          "scope": "CHANGED",
          "version": "3.1",
          "baseScore": 8.8,
          "attackVector": "LOCAL",
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH"
        },
        "impactScore": 6,
        "exploitabilityScore": 2
      }
    ]
  },
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "cve-coordination@google.com",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux Kernel",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "lessThan": "5.4",
              "versionType": "custom"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "0",
              "lessThan": "71b547f561247897a0a14f3082730156c0533fed",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published": "2023-09-20T06:15:10.233",
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=71b547f561247897a0a14f3082730156c0533fed",
      "tags": [
        "Mailing List",
        "Patch"
      ],
      "source": "cve-coordination@google.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://bughunters.google.com/blog/6303226026131456/a-deep-dive-into-cve-2023-2163-how-we-found-and-fixed-an-ebpf-linux-kernel-vulnerability",
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=71b547f561247897a0a14f3082730156c0533fed",
      "tags": [
        "Mailing List",
        "Patch"
      ],
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"
    }
  ],
  "vulnStatus": "Modified",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "type": "Secondary",
      "source": "cve-coordination@google.com",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-682"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Primary",
      "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-682"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "Incorrect verifier pruning in BPF in Linux Kernel >=5.4 leads to unsafe\ncode paths being incorrectly marked as safe, resulting in arbitrary read/write in\nkernel memory, lateral privilege escalation, and container escape."
    },
    {
      "lang": "es",
      "value": "La poda incorrecta del verificador en BPF en el kernel de Linux >=5.4 conduce a que las rutas de código inseguras se marquen incorrectamente como seguras, lo que resulta en lectura/escritura arbitraria en la memoria del kernel, escalada de privilegios lateral y escape de contenedor."
    }
  ],
  "lastModified": "2026-06-17T05:51:53.783",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "nodes": [
        {
          "negate": false,
          "cpeMatch": [
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "vulnerable": true,
              "matchCriteriaId": "9C1E37DC-B08A-4CB0-B689-FE26E2B39375",
              "versionEndExcluding": "5.4.242",
              "versionStartIncluding": "5.3"
            },
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "vulnerable": true,
              "matchCriteriaId": "3567B8E6-5C31-435F-95D1-6A2BB44CB9D1",
              "versionEndExcluding": "5.10.179",
              "versionStartIncluding": "5.5"
            },
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "vulnerable": true,
              "matchCriteriaId": "4C603326-394E-408E-B5E1-011979F7BD9D",
              "versionEndExcluding": "5.15.109",
              "versionStartIncluding": "5.11"
            },
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "vulnerable": true,
              "matchCriteriaId": "23989D73-416D-4C1B-8D9D-2A43A43DA115",
              "versionEndExcluding": "6.1.26",
              "versionStartIncluding": "5.16"
            },
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "vulnerable": true,
              "matchCriteriaId": "BFF8B56C-0201-4D6A-901E-C9C643C04FF6",
              "versionEndExcluding": "6.2.13",
              "versionStartIncluding": "6.2"
            }
          ],
          "operator": "OR"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "cve-coordination@google.com"
}