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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52528

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.327 / 4.19.296 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: usb: smsc75xx: Fix uninit-value access in __smsc75xx_read_reg syzbot reported the following uninit-value access issue: ===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in smsc75xx_wait_ready drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:975 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in smsc75xx_bind+0x5c9/0x11e0 drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:1482 CPU: 0 PID: 8696 Comm: kworker/0:3 Not tainted 5.8.0-rc5-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Workqueue: usb_hub_wq hub_event Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:77 [inline] dump_stack+0x21c/0x280 lib/dump_stack.c:118 kmsan_report+0xf7/0x1e0 mm/kmsan/kmsan_report.c:121 __msan_warning+0x58/0xa0 mm/kmsan/kmsan_instr.c:215 smsc75xx_wait_ready drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:975 [inline] smsc75xx_bind+0x5c9/0x11e0 drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:1482 usbnet_probe+0x1152/0x3f90 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:1737 usb_probe_interface+0xece/0x1550 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:374 really_probe+0xf20/0x20b0 drivers/base/dd.c:529 driver_probe_device+0x293/0x390 drivers/base/dd.c:701 __device_attach_driver+0x63f/0x830 drivers/base/dd.c:807 bus_for_each_drv+0x2ca/0x3f0 drivers/base/bus.c:431 __device_attach+0x4e2/0x7f0 drivers/base/dd.c:873 device_initial_probe+0x4a/0x60 drivers/base/dd.c:920 bus_probe_device+0x177/0x3d0 drivers/base/bus.c:491 device_add+0x3b0e/0x40d0 drivers/base/core.c:2680 usb_set_configuration+0x380f/0x3f10 drivers/usb/core/message.c:2032 usb_generic_driver_probe+0x138/0x300 drivers/usb/core/generic.c:241 usb_probe_device+0x311/0x490 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:272 really_probe+0xf20/0x20b0 drivers/base/dd.c:529 driver_probe_device+0x293/0x390 drivers/base/dd.c:701 __device_attach_driver+0x63f/0x830 drivers/base/dd.c:807 bus_for_each_drv+0x2ca/0x3f0 drivers/base/bus.c:431 __device_attach+0x4e2/0x7f0 drivers/base/dd.c:873 device_initial_probe+0x4a/0x60 drivers/base/dd.c:920 bus_probe_device+0x177/0x3d0 drivers/base/bus.c:491 device_add+0x3b0e/0x40d0 drivers/base/core.c:2680 usb_new_device+0x1bd4/0x2a30 drivers/usb/core/hub.c:2554 hub_port_connect drivers/usb/core/hub.c:5208 [inline] hub_port_connect_change drivers/usb/core/hub.c:5348 [inline] port_event drivers/usb/core/hub.c:5494 [inline] hub_event+0x5e7b/0x8a70 drivers/usb/core/hub.c:5576 process_one_work+0x1688/0x2140 kernel/workqueue.c:2269 worker_thread+0x10bc/0x2730 kernel/workqueue.c:2415 kthread+0x551/0x590 kernel/kthread.c:292 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:293 Local variable ----buf.i87@smsc75xx_bind created at: __smsc75xx_read_reg drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:83 [inline] smsc75xx_wait_ready drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:968 [inline] smsc75xx_bind+0x485/0x11e0 drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:1482 __smsc75xx_read_reg drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:83 [inline] smsc75xx_wait_ready drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:968 [inline] smsc75xx_bind+0x485/0x11e0 drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c:1482 This issue is caused because usbnet_read_cmd() reads less bytes than requested (zero byte in the reproducer). In this case, 'buf' is not properly filled. This patch fixes the issue by returning -ENODATA if usbnet_read_cmd() reads less bytes than requested.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-908

Memory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.

General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 2.6.34, < 4.14.327>= 4.15, < 4.19.296>= 4.20, < 5.4.258>= 5.5, < 5.10.198>= 5.11, < 5.15.135>= 5.16, < 6.1.57>= 6.2, < 6.5.7= 6.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.14.327 / 4.19.296 / 5.4.258 or later
Fixed in 4.14.3274.19.2965.4.258
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 4.14.327+ / 4.19.296+ / 5.4.258+ / 5.10.198+ (or any later stable release)

  1. Obtain the patch from the upstream kernel stable commit: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2a36d9e2995c8c3c3f179aab1215a69cff06cbed
  2. Apply the patch to the Linux kernel source tree, specifically modifying drivers/net/usb/smsc75xx.c
  3. The fix adds a check in __smsc75xx_read_reg to verify that usbnet_read_cmd() reads the expected number of bytes
  4. If fewer bytes are read than requested, the function now returns -ENODATA instead of using uninitialized data
  5. Rebuild the kernel with the applied fix
Caveat Kernel rebuild required; no user-space changes needed

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52528 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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