KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2023-0266

Use after free in SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_ELEM in Linux Kernel

Linux / Linux Kernel · affected before 56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e

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Severity
CVSS 7.9 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
3.7%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-0266 is Use after free in SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_ELEM in Linux Kernel. A use after free vulnerability exists in the ALSA PCM package in the Linux Kernel. SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_ELEM_{READ|WRITE}32 is missing locks that can...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Linux / Linux Kernel affected before 56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Use after free in SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_ELEM in Linux Kernel

A use after free vulnerability exists in the ALSA PCM package in the Linux Kernel. SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_ELEM_{READ|WRITE}32 is missing locks that can be used in a use-after-free that can result in a priviledge escalation to gain ring0 access from the system user.

We recommend upgrading past commit 56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e

Vendor Product Affected Status
Linux Linux Kernel ALSA pcm Before 56b88b50565cd8b946a2d00b0c83927b7ebb055e Affected
Published
30 Jan 2023
Exploitation Reported
30 Mar 2023
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa nessus_scanner linux

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 30 Mar 2023

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2023-03-30 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

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Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nessus https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/236642 02 Jun 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.9 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:H

EPSS

3.7%

Weaknesses

Use After Free CWE-416

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  2. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  3. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-0266

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-0266",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.9,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.03702,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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