CVE-2023-3494

bhyve privileged guest escape via fwctl

HIGH
8.8
CVSS Score
Published: August 1, 2023 at 10:13 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:14 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorFreeBSD

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Severity
HIGH8.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The fwctl driver implements a state machine which is executed when a bhyve guest accesses certain x86 I/O ports. The interface lets the guest copy a string into a buffer resident in the bhyve process' memory. A bug in the state machine implementation can result in a buffer overflowing when copying this string. Malicious, privileged software running in a guest VM can exploit the buffer overflow to achieve code execution on the host in the bhyve userspace process, which typically runs as root, mitigated by the capabilities assigned through the Capsicum sandbox available to the bhyve process.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

13.1-RELEASE ≤ v < 13.1-RELEASE-p913.2-RELEASE ≤ v < 13.2-RELEASE-p213.113.1 b1-p113.1 b2-p213.1 p113.1 p213.1 p313.1 p413.1 p513.1 p613.1 p713.1 p813.1 rc1-p113.1-RELEASE13.213.2 p113.2-RELEASE
Affected range stops below 13.1-RELEASE-p9, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 13.2-RELEASE-p2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-120

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