# CVE-2023-4016: Memory corruption in Linux Kernal

> A local attacker can write unfiltered data to the process heap via the ps utility, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Low 2.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-4016, ALSA-2023:6705, ALSA-2023:7187, CLSA-2023-1701706316, CLSA-2023-1701706444, CLSA-2024-1718202251, CLSA-2024-1718202753, CLSA-2024-1718270850, CLSA-2024-1718791717, CLSA-2024-1718797236, CLSA-2026-1779130594, CLSA-2026-1779266815, CLSA-2026-1779267440, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-4016, ECHO-38b0-90f2-01f8, GHSA-v76x-qfmc-m88p, OESA-2023-1514, RHSA-2023:6705, RHSA-2023:7187, RLSA-2023:7187, SUSE-SU-2023:3471-1, SUSE-SU-2023:3472-1, SUSE-SU-2025:0725-1, SUSE-SU-2025:0741-1, SUSE-SU-2025:20180-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-4016, USN-6477-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:13140-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:13141-1

## What is CVE-2023-4016?

CVE-2023-4016 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 2 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Under some circumstances, this weakness allows a user who has access to run the “ps” utility on a machine, the ability to write almost unlimited amounts of unfiltered data into the process heap.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-4016?

It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `procps-ng` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-devel` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-i18n` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-devel` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-i18n` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-i18n` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps-ng` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-i18n` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:3.3.17-13.el9 |
| `procps-ng` | Rocky Linux:8 | All versions | 0:3.3.15-14.el8 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Enterprise Storage 7.1 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1 | All versions | 3.3.15-150000.7.34.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | All versions | 3.3.15-150000.7.34.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | All versions | 3.3.15-150000.7.34.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | All versions | 3.3.15-150000.7.34.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | All versions | 3.3.15-150000.7.34.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | All versions | 3.3.15-150000.7.34.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | All versions | 3.3.17-150000.7.42.1 |
| `procps` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | All versions | 3.3.9-11.27.1 |

Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Procps Project Procps.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-4016?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-4016 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4016 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-4016 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-4016 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 2 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4016 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4016/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4016/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4016
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4016
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-4016

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4016/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.