CVE Intelligence
Medium Memory corruption exploit reference

CVE-2023-3338 — Crash due to a null pointer dereference in the dn_nsp_send function

A null pointer dereference flaw was found in the Linux kernel's DECnet networking protocol. This issue could allow a remote user to crash the system.

Published Jun 30, 2023 · Updated Oct 14, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP, GitHub Security Advisories · CNA: redhat

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 8.3% (30-day exploitation probability)+14
  • Technical severity (medium)+3
  • CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
8.29%
ahead of 95% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Debian
Debian Linux and 3 more
CVSS base
6.5
Medium · 4 source(s)
Prioritization reference: 7.5 provisional

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
Proof of concept
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Partial
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Debian Debian Linux, Fedora Fedora, Linux Linux Kernel…).
  2. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  3. EPSS ahead of 95% of scored CVEs: prioritize it in the patch queue.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Debian Debian Linux version 10.0version 11.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Fedora Fedora versions not specified by the source Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Linux Linux Kernel < 6.5 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager versions not specified by the source Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
7.5 CVSS 3.1 High — — GitHub, Inc. via GitHub Security Advisories
6.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium 2.8 3.6 secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium 2.8 3.6 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium — — redhat via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)
Sources disagree significantly and the divergence is under review. Every score is kept with its origin. For prioritization we use 7.5 (GitHub, Inc. via GitHub Security Advisories) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
  • Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSendpoint telemetry (EDR)crash dumps

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · fedora/fedora
    Oct 14, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 14, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 14, 2026
  • Affected products added · linux/linux kernel, netapp/active iq unified manager, debian/debian linux
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 6.5
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Modified
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 14, 2026 · Alertas do Telegram
  • 2023
  • CVE published
    Jun 30, 2023 · redhat

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 2× References added · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026
  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026

References

11 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Debian
every CVE for this vendor
Memory corruption
same class
CWE-476
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-98164 KVM: x86/mmu: Check write tracking in all address spaces 16d
  • CVE-2026-98163 cgroup: Avoid iteration of dying tasks with zero refcount 19d
  • CVE-2026-98162 smb/server: fix tree connection leak in smb2_tree_connect() 20d
  • CVE-2026-98156 drm/virtio: use the DMA API for resource backing on Xen 20d
  • CVE-2026-98159 wifi: mt76: mt7921: validate CLC firmware records 20d
  • CVE-2026-98136 ntfs: bound $AttrDef table walk to the loaded table size 20d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2023-3338 is "Crash due to a null pointer dereference in the dn_nsp_send function", rated Medium. It affects Debian Linux (Debian); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 6.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 8.29% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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