CVE-2023-42917
webkitgtk: Arbitrary Remote Code Execution
Severity
ImportantRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · December 5, 2023
Updated · November 21, 2025
Description
A flaw was found in WebKitGTK. Processing malicious web content may lead to remote code execution. This vulnerability is known to be actively exploited in the wild and was included in the CISA's KEV catalog.
Statement
All versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are affected to this vulnerability. To exploit this flaw, an attacker needs to trick a user into processing or loading malicious web content. For this reason, this flaw was rated with an important, and not critical, severity.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
Do not process or load untrusted web content with WebKitGTK.
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the following packages require WebKitGTK4: evolution-data-server, glade, gnome-boxes, gnome-initial-setup, gnome-online-accounts, gnome-shell, shotwell, sushi and yelp.
This vulnerability can only be exploited when these packages are installed in the system and being used via a graphical interface to process untrusted web content, via GNOME for example. In gnome-shell, the vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker from the local network without user interaction.
To mitigate this vulnerability, consider removing these packages. Note that some of these packages are required by GNOME, removing them will also remove GNOME and other packages, breaking functionality. However, the server can still be used via the terminal interface.
Additionally, WebKitGTK3 is not required by any package. Therefore, it can be removed without consequences or break of functionality.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 8.8CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds Write