Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53236

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.11 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: iommufd: Do not corrupt the pfn list when doing batch carry If batch->end is 0 then setting npfns[0] before computing the new value of pfns will fail to adjust the pfn and result in various page accounting corruptions. It should be ordered after. This seems to result in various kinds of page meta-data corruption related failures: WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 527 at mm/gup.c:75 try_grab_folio+0x503/0x740 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 527 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.3.0-rc2-eeac8ede1755+ #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:try_grab_folio+0x503/0x740 Code: e3 01 48 89 de e8 6d c1 dd ff 48 85 db 0f 84 7c fe ff ff e8 4f bf dd ff 49 8d 47 ff 48 89 45 d0 e9 73 fe ff ff e8 3d bf dd ff <0f> 0b 31 db e9 d0 fc ff ff e8 2f bf dd ff 48 8b 5d c8 31 ff 48 89 RSP: 0018:ffffc90000f37908 EFLAGS: 00010046 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00000000fffffc02 RCX: ffffffff81504c26 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff88800d030000 RDI: 0000000000000002 RBP: ffffc90000f37948 R08: 000000000003ca24 R09: 0000000000000008 R10: 000000000003ca00 R11: 0000000000000023 R12: ffffea000035d540 R13: 0000000000000001 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffea000035d540 FS: 00007fecbf659740(0000) GS:ffff88807dd00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00000000200011c3 CR3: 000000000ef66006 CR4: 0000000000770ee0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> internal_get_user_pages_fast+0xd32/0x2200 pin_user_pages_fast+0x65/0x90 pfn_reader_user_pin+0x376/0x390 pfn_reader_next+0x14a/0x7b0 pfn_reader_first+0x140/0x1b0 iopt_area_fill_domain+0x74/0x210 iopt_table_add_domain+0x30e/0x6e0 iommufd_device_selftest_attach+0x7f/0x140 iommufd_test+0x10ff/0x16f0 iommufd_fops_ioctl+0x206/0x330 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x10e/0x160 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

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:>= 6.2, < 6.2.11= 6.3

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 6.2.11 or later
Fixed in 6.2.11
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Linux kernel >= 6.2.11 or >= 6.3.1 (or the latest stable kernel version available from your distribution)

  1. 1. Check current kernel version: `uname -r`
  2. 2. For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora: Run `dnf update kernel` or `yum update kernel` to install the latest kernel package
  3. 3. For Debian/Ubuntu: Run `apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>` to install a newer kernel
  4. 4. For SUSE: Run `zypper update kernel-default`
  5. 5. After upgrading, reboot the system: `reboot`
  6. 6. Verify the new kernel version is running: `uname -r` - ensure version is >= 6.2.11 or >= 6.3.1
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require updating out-of-tree drivers or kernel modules; ensure compatibility before upgrading production systems

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

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2023-53236 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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