CVE-2023-41325 | OP-TEE double free in shdr_verify_signature

Exp

OP-TEE is a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) designed as companion to a non-secure Linux kernel running on Arm; Cortex-A cores using the TrustZone technology. Starting in version 3.20 and prior to version 3.22, `shdr_verify_signature` can make a double free. `shdr_verify_signature` used to verify a TA binary before it is loaded. To verify a signature of it, allocate a memory for RSA key. RSA key allocate function (`sw_crypto_acipher_alloc_rsa_public_key`) will try to allocate a memory (which is optee’s heap memory). RSA key is consist of exponent and modulus (represent as variable `e`, `n`) and it allocation is not atomic way, so it may succeed in `e` but fail in `n`. In this case sw_crypto_acipher_alloc_rsa_public_key` will free on `e` and return as it is failed but variable ‘e’ is remained as already freed memory address . `shdr_verify_signature` will free again that memory (which is `e`) even it is freed when it failed allocate RSA key. A patch is available in version 3.22. No known workarounds are available.

Published: 2023-09-15 Last update: 2026-06-05 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-41325 is rated Exploit Available (50.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-41325

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-41325

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.07% +0.02%
2 2023-09-16 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-41325

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.1 5.8 [email protected]
6.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-41325

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-41325

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-41325 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (optee-os), 3 status rows across 3 suites (forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-41325

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-41325

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
trustedfirmware op-tee >= 3.20.0, < 3.22.0 cpe:2.3:o:trustedfirmware:op-tee:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
trustedfirmware op-tee 3.22.0 cpe:2.3:o:trustedfirmware:op-tee:3.22.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-41325

cvelogic Threat Intelligence