How severe is CVE-2022-23523?

CVE-2022-23523 has a CVSS score of 4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-23523?

CVE-2022-23523 affects the following packages: linux-loader (crates.io). Ecosystems affected: crates.io.

How do I fix CVE-2022-23523?

Update linux-loader to 0.8.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-23523 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2022-23523 in my crates.io dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for linux-loader. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2022-23523 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2022-23523?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-23523 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2022-23523 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2022-23523 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2022-23523?

CVE-2022-23523 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.2%, placing it in the 11th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

When was CVE-2022-23523 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2022-23523 was published on December 13, 2022 and was last updated on April 2, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🦀 crates.io

CVE-2022-23523

MEDIUM

rust-vmm linux-loader vulnerable to Out-of-bounds Read

Also known asGHSA-52h2-m2cf-9jh6

Published

Dec 13, 2022

Updated

Apr 2, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk11th percentile+0.08%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🦀linux-loader

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

In versions prior to 0.8.1, the linux-loader crate uses the offsets and sizes provided in the ELF headers to determine the offsets to read from. If those offsets point beyond the end of the file this could lead to Virtual Machine Monitors using the linux-loader crate entering an infinite loop if the ELF header of the kernel they are loading was modified in a malicious manner. This issue has been addressed in 0.8.1. The issue can be mitigated by ensuring that only trusted kernel images are loaded or by verifying that the headers do not point beyond the end of the file.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🦀crates.io	`linux-loader`	all versions	0.8.1

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for linux-loader. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update linux-loader to 0.8.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-23523 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-23523 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2022-23523. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

In versions prior to 0.8.1, the linux-loader crate uses the offsets and sizes provided in the ELF headers to determine the offsets to read from. If those offsets point beyond the end of the file this could lead to Virtual Machine Monitors using the `linux-loader` crate entering an infinite loop if the ELF header of the kernel they are loading was modified in a malicious manner. This issue has been addressed in 0.8.1. The issue can be mitigated by ensuring that only trusted kernel images are loaded or by verifying that the headers do not point beyond the end of the file.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2022-23523 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2022-23523 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works