CVE-2023-5088 | Qemu: improper ide controller reset can lead to mbr overwrite

A bug in QEMU could cause a guest I/O operation otherwise addressed to an arbitrary disk offset to be targeted to offset 0 instead (potentially overwriting the VM's boot code). This could be used, for example, by L2 guests with a virtual disk (vdiskL2) stored on a virtual disk of an L1 (vdiskL1) hypervisor to read and/or write data to LBA 0 of vdiskL1, potentially gaining control of L1 at its next reboot.

Published: 2023-11-03 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-5088 is rated Low Risk (26.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-5088

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 2025-03-30 0.05% 0.02% -0.04%
2 2025-03-29 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2023-11-04 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-5088

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
 0.5 5.9 [email protected]
7.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 1.0 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-5088

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-5088

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-5088: 1 source package rows (qemu); 1 state rows across 1 repos (3.19-community); fixed 0, open 1. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-5088
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-5088 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (qemu), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-5088
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-5088
suse medium CVE-2023-5088 severity moderate: SUSE including 196 source package names (hivex-1.3.18-23.module+el8.9.0+18724+20190c23, hivex-devel-1.3.18-23.module+el8.9.0+18724+20190c23, …), 933 product×package rows across 42 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1, … (42 product lines)): Known Not Affected 792, Fixed 141. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-5088/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-5088 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (qemu), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 8, needs-triage 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-5088

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-5088

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
qemu qemu < 8.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:qemu:qemu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:advanced_virtualization:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-5088

cvelogic Threat Intelligence