A flaw was found in the Framebuffer Console (fbcon) in the Linux Kernel. When providing font->width and font->height greater than 32 to fbcon_set_font, since there are no checks in place, a shift-out-of-bounds occurs leading to undefined behavior and possible denial of service.
CVE-2023-3161
MEDIUMNVD 5.55.5—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence
Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2023-06-12. NVD baseline CVSS 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.
Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: ghsa, nvd
5.5
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: NoneExposed: 0
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 5.5
- EG Score
- 5.5(medium)
- EPSS
- 10.7%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
June 12, 2023
Last Modified
March 11, 2025
References (4)
- secalert@redhathttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2213485
- secalert@redhathttps://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/2b09d5d364986f724f17001ccfe4126b9b43a0be
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2213485
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/2b09d5d364986f724f17001ccfe4126b9b43a0be
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2023-3161(4)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2024:0412Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2023:7077Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- RHSA-2023:6583Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- RHSA-2023:5604Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2023-3161?
CVE-2023-3161 is a medium vulnerability published on June 12, 2023. A flaw was found in the Framebuffer Console (fbcon) in the Linux Kernel. When providing font->width and font->height greater than 32 to fbconsetfont, since there are no checks in place, a shift-out-of-bounds occurs leading to undefined behavior and possible denial of service.
When was CVE-2023-3161 disclosed?
CVE-2023-3161 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on June 12, 2023, with the most recent update on March 11, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2023-3161 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-3161 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 10.7% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-3161?
CVE-2023-3161 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-3161?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2023-3161, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2023-3161
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2023-3161?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.