dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53369

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.253 / 5.10.190 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: dcb: choose correct policy to parse DCB_ATTR_BCN The dcbnl_bcn_setcfg uses erroneous policy to parse tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN], which is introduced in commit 859ee3c43812 ("DCB: Add support for DCB BCN"). Please see the comment in below code static int dcbnl_bcn_setcfg(...) { ... ret = nla_parse_nested_deprecated(..., dcbnl_pfc_up_nest, .. ) // !!! dcbnl_pfc_up_nest for attributes // DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0 to DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL in enum dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7 in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_byte = nla_get_u8(data[i]); ... } ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_int = nla_get_u32(data[i]); ... } ... } That is, the nla_parse_nested_deprecated uses dcbnl_pfc_up_nest attributes to parse nlattr defined in dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs. But the following access code fetch each nlattr as dcbnl_bcn_attrs attributes. By looking up the associated nla_policy for dcbnl_bcn_attrs. We can find the beginning part of these two policies are "same". static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_pfc_up_nest[...] = { [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_bcn_nest[...] = { [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, // from here is somewhat different [DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0] = {.type = NLA_U32}, ... [DCB_BCN_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; Therefore, the current code is buggy and this nla_parse_nested_deprecated could overflow the dcbnl_pfc_up_nest and use the adjacent nla_policy to parse attributes from DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0. Hence use the correct policy dcbnl_bcn_nest to parse the nested tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN] TLV.

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:>= 2.6.29, < 5.4.253>= 5.5, < 5.10.190>= 5.11, < 5.15.126>= 5.16, < 6.1.45>= 6.2, < 6.4.10= 6.5

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 5.4.253 / 5.10.190 / 5.15.126 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2535.10.1905.15.126
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel >= 6.1.45, >= 5.15.126, >= 5.10.190, or >= 5.4.253

  1. Obtain the kernel source code for your currently running kernel version
  2. Apply the fix from commit 199fde04bd875d28b3a5ca525eaaa004eec6e947 which changes dcbnl_bcn_setcfg to use dcbnl_bcn_nest policy instead of dcbnl_pfc_up_nest when parsing tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN]
  3. Recompile the kernel with the applied patch
  4. Reboot the system with the patched kernel

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
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-53369 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-53369 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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