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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52659

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.6.23 / 6.7.11 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: x86/mm: Ensure input to pfn_to_kaddr() is treated as a 64-bit type On 64-bit platforms, the pfn_to_kaddr() macro requires that the input value is 64 bits in order to ensure that valid address bits don't get lost when shifting that input by PAGE_SHIFT to calculate the physical address to provide a virtual address for. One such example is in pvalidate_pages() (used by SEV-SNP guests), where the GFN in the struct used for page-state change requests is a 40-bit bit-field, so attempts to pass this GFN field directly into pfn_to_kaddr() ends up causing guest crashes when dealing with addresses above the 1TB range due to the above. Fix this issue with SEV-SNP guests, as well as any similar cases that might cause issues in current/future code, by using an inline function, instead of a macro, so that the input is implicitly cast to the expected 64-bit input type prior to performing the shift operation. While it might be argued that the issue is on the caller side, other archs/macros have taken similar approaches to deal with instances like this, such as ARM explicitly casting the input to phys_addr_t: e48866647b48 ("ARM: 8396/1: use phys_addr_t in pfn_to_kaddr()") A C inline function is even better though. [ mingo: Refined the changelog some more & added __always_inline. ]

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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:>= 6.5, < 6.6.23>= 6.7, < 6.7.11>= 6.8, < 6.8.2

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 6.6.23 / 6.7.11 / 6.8.2 or later
Fixed in 6.6.236.7.116.8.2
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.6.23 (for 6.5-6.6.x users), 6.7.11 (for 6.7.x users), or 6.8.2 (for 6.8.x users)

  1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. If running kernel 6.5.x-6.6.x, upgrade to kernel version 6.6.23 or later
  3. If running kernel 6.7.x, upgrade to kernel version 6.7.11 or later
  4. If running kernel 6.8.x-6.8.1, upgrade to kernel version 6.8.2 or later
  5. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by running 'uname -r' to confirm the new version
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply - ensure all required drivers and modules are compatible with the new kernel version before rebooting

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

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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-2023-52659 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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