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Fencer Vulns
low 3.3

CVE-2023-2602 json

A vulnerability was found in the pthread_create() function in libcap.

published 2023-06-06 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-34076

cvss
3.3
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 29%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A vulnerability was found in the pthread_create() function in libcap. This issue may allow a malicious actor to use cause __real_pthread_create() to return an error, which can exhaust the process memory.

Patch / fix

  • libcap2 Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1:2.66-4

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-2602

  • libcap2 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 1:2.32-1ubuntu0.1
  • libcap2 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 1:2.44-1ubuntu0.22.04.1
  • libcap2 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 1:2.66-4ubuntu1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2023-2602

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • libcap RHEL 9 2.48-9.el9_2
  • libcap RHEL 8 2.48-5.el8_8
  • libcap RHEL 8.6 EUS 2.48-4.el8_6

red hat advisories RHSA-2023:7400RHSA-2023:5071RHSA-2023:4524

  • libcap SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP5, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP4, SLE Micro 5.4 +4 more 2.63-150400.3.3.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:2765-1

  • libcap AlmaLinux 9 2.48-9.el9_2
  • libcap AlmaLinux 8 2.48-5.el8_8

almalinux advisories ALSA-2023:5071ALSA-2023:4524

  • libcap Rocky Linux 8 2.48-5.el8_8

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2023:4524

  • libcap Alpine 3.15 2.61-r1
  • libcap Alpine 3.16 2.64-r1
  • libcap Alpine 3.17 2.66-r1

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2023-2602

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • libcap CBL-Mariner 2.0 2.60-2

azure linux advisories AZL-27064

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2023-2602 updated cvss 3.3

libcap: Memory Leak on pthread_create() Error

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 libcap, compat-libcap1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 libcap, compat-libcap1
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) libcap-devel 2.48-9.el9_2, libcap-debuginfo 2.48-9.el9_2, libcap-debugsource 2.48-9.el9_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:5071
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) libcap 2.48-5.el8_8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:4524
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) libcap 2.48-9.el9_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:5071
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.6) libcap 2.48-4.el8_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:7400

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.35% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 29% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • x41-dsec.de https://www.x41-dsec.de/static/reports/X41-libcap-Code-Review-2023-OSTIF-Final-Report.pdf referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 3.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Affected products

  • n/a libcap

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

References

Sources

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