# CVE-2023-5088: Qemu: improper ide controller reset can lead to mbr overwrite

> A QEMU bug allows guest I/O operations to overwrite the host's boot code, potentially enabling privilege escalation from guest to host.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-35596, CLSA-2025-1761214095, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-5088, GHSA-9627-hqj3-f64h, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5088

## What is CVE-2023-5088?

CVE-2023-5088 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qemu Qemu, published on 3 Nov 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A bug in QEMU could cause a guest I/O operation otherwise addressed to an arbitrary disk offset to be targeted to offset 0 instead (potentially overwriting the VM's boot code). This could be used, for example, by L2 guests with a virtual disk (vdiskL2) stored on a virtual disk of an L1 (vdiskL1) hypervisor to read and/or write data to LBA 0 of vdiskL1, potentially gaining control of L1 at its next reboot.

Weakness: CWE-662 (Improper Synchronization), CWE-821 (Incorrect Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5088?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Qemu Qemu, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5088?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-5088 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5088 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Qemu Qemu

- [CVE-2022-36648](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36648/): Null dereference in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2015-8556](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8556/): Race condition in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-3616](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3616/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2019-12928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12928/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-12929](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12929/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5088 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5088 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qemu Qemu, published on 3 Nov 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-2023-5088 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qemu Qemu. 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-2023-5088/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5088/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5088
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5088
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5088

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5088/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.