Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52633

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.149 / 6.1.77 or later.
See remediation →
50/100
Remediation priority · Moderate
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: um: time-travel: fix time corruption In 'basic' time-travel mode (without =inf-cpu or =ext), we still get timer interrupts. These can happen at arbitrary points in time, i.e. while in timer_read(), which pushes time forward just a little bit. Then, if we happen to get the interrupt after calculating the new time to push to, but before actually finishing that, the interrupt will set the time to a value that's incompatible with the forward, and we'll crash because time goes backwards when we do the forwarding. Fix this by reading the time_travel_time, calculating the adjustment, and doing the adjustment all with interrupts disabled.

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-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write 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:< 5.15.149>= 5.16, < 6.1.77>= 6.2, < 6.6.16>= 6.7, < 6.7.4

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 5.15.149 / 6.1.77 / 6.6.16 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1496.1.776.6.16
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.15.149+ (or 6.1.77+, 6.6.16+, or 6.7.4+ depending on your branch)

  1. Identify the current Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which affected branch your current kernel belongs to (5.15.x, 6.1.x, 6.2.x, 6.3.x, 6.4.x, 6.5.x, 6.6.x, or 6.7.x)
  3. Upgrade to a fixed kernel version: For 5.15.x branch upgrade to >= 5.15.149; For 6.1.x branch upgrade to >= 6.1.77; For 6.2-6.5.x branches upgrade to >= 6.6.16; For 6.7.x branch upgrade to >= 6.7.4
  4. If using a distribution-provided kernel, apply distribution-specific updates via package manager (e.g., 'apt update && apt upgrade' for Debian/Ubuntu, 'yum update' for RHEL/CentOS, 'dnf update' for Fedora)
  5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the new kernel version is running with 'uname -r'
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver/module rebuilding for proprietary drivers; ensure compatibility with installed hardware before upgrading

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 $2,850. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-52633 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2023-52633 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data