dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53382

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.31 / 6.3.5 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/smc: Reset connection when trying to use SMCRv2 fails. We found a crash when using SMCRv2 with 2 Mellanox ConnectX-4. It can be reproduced by: - smc_run nginx - smc_run wrk -t 32 -c 500 -d 30 http://<ip>:<port> BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000014 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 8000000108713067 P4D 8000000108713067 PUD 151127067 PMD 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 4 PID: 2441 Comm: kworker/4:249 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W E 6.4.0-rc1+ #42 Workqueue: smc_hs_wq smc_listen_work [smc] RIP: 0010:smc_clc_send_confirm_accept+0x284/0x580 [smc] RSP: 0018:ffffb8294b2d7c78 EFLAGS: 00010a06 RAX: ffff8f1873238880 RBX: ffffb8294b2d7dc8 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 00000000000000b4 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: 0000000000b40c00 RBP: ffffb8294b2d7db8 R08: ffff8f1815c5860c R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000400 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff8f1846f56180 R13: ffff8f1815c5860c R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000001 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8f1aefd00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000014 CR3: 00000001027a0001 CR4: 00000000003706e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ? mlx5_ib_map_mr_sg+0xa1/0xd0 [mlx5_ib] ? smcr_buf_map_link+0x24b/0x290 [smc] ? __smc_buf_create+0x4ee/0x9b0 [smc] smc_clc_send_accept+0x4c/0xb0 [smc] smc_listen_work+0x346/0x650 [smc] ? __schedule+0x279/0x820 process_one_work+0x1e5/0x3f0 worker_thread+0x4d/0x2f0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0xe5/0x120 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50 </TASK> During the CLC handshake, server sequentially tries available SMCRv2 and SMCRv1 devices in smc_listen_work(). If an SMCRv2 device is found. SMCv2 based link group and link will be assigned to the connection. Then assumed that some buffer assignment errors happen later in the CLC handshake, such as RMB registration failure, server will give up SMCRv2 and try SMCRv1 device instead. But the resources assigned to the connection won't be reset. When server tries SMCRv1 device, the connection creation process will be executed again. Since conn->lnk has been assigned when trying SMCRv2, it will not be set to the correct SMCRv1 link in smcr_lgr_conn_assign_link(). So in such situation, conn->lgr points to correct SMCRv1 link group but conn->lnk points to the SMCRv2 link mistakenly. Then in smc_clc_send_confirm_accept(), conn->rmb_desc->mr[link->link_idx] will be accessed. Since the link->link_idx is not correct, the related MR may not have been initialized, so crash happens. | Try SMCRv2 device first | |-> conn->lgr: assign existed SMCRv2 link group; | |-> conn->link: assign existed SMCRv2 link (link_idx may be 1 in SMC_LGR_SYMMETRIC); | |-> sndbuf & RMB creation fails, quit; | | Try SMCRv1 device then | |-> conn->lgr: create SMCRv1 link group and assign; | |-> conn->link: keep SMCRv2 link mistakenly; | |-> sndbuf & RMB creation succeed, only RMB->mr[link_idx = 0] | initialized. | | Then smc_clc_send_confirm_accept() accesses | conn->rmb_desc->mr[conn->link->link_idx, which is 1], then crash. v This patch tries to fix this by cleaning conn->lnk before assigning link. In addition, it is better to reset the connection and clean the resources assigned if trying SMCRv2 failed in buffer creation or registration.

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-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference 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:>= 5.16, < 6.1.31>= 6.2, < 6.3.5= 6.4

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
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 6.1.31 / 6.3.5 or later
Fixed in 6.1.316.3.5
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.1.31+ (for 6.1.x branch), 6.3.5+ (for 6.3.x branch), or 6.5+ (for 6.4.x systems)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on your current kernel branch (5.16+ to 6.1.x, 6.2.x to 6.3.x, or 6.4.x to 6.5+)
  3. 3. For Debian/Ubuntu-based systems: Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade' or install specific kernel package
  4. 4. For RHEL/CentOS: Run 'sudo yum update kernel' or 'sudo dnf update kernel'
  5. 5. For other distributions: Use distribution-specific package manager to upgrade to fixed kernel version
  6. 6. Reboot the system to load the new kernel: 'sudo reboot'
  7. 7. After reboot, verify the kernel version is >= 6.1.31 (for 6.1.x branch), >= 6.3.5 (for 6.3.x branch), or >= 6.5.0 (for 6.4.x migration)
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have minor driver/module compatibility changes; test in staging environment before production deployment

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-2023-53382 — 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-2023-53382 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