CVE-2023-6931 Out-of-bounds write in Linux kernel's Performance Events system component

What is CVE-2023-6931?

CVE-2023-6931 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 Dec 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A heap out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Performance Events system component can be exploited to achieve local privilege escalation.

A perf_event's read_size can overflow, leading to an heap out-of-bounds increment or write in perf_read_group().

We recommend upgrading past commit 382c27f4ed28f803b1f1473ac2d8db0afc795a1b.

Weakness: CWE-787

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-6931?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-6931?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2023-6931 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-6931 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 2 proofs of concept on GitHub.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-32264, AZL-34869, BELL-CVE-2023-6931, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-6931, GHSA-xv88-q3gm-mmjp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-6931.