Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2023-53552
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 · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/i915: mark requests for GuC virtual engines to avoid use-after-free References to i915_requests may be trapped by userspace inside a sync_file or dmabuf (dma-resv) and held indefinitely across different proceses. To counter-act the memory leaks, we try to not to keep references from the request past their completion. On the other side on fence release we need to know if rq->engine is valid and points to hw engine (true for non-virtual requests). To make it possible extra bit has been added to rq->execution_mask, for marking virtual engines. (cherry picked from commit 280410677af763f3871b93e794a199cfcf6fb580)
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 analysisMemory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.
General guidance for the use after free 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
>= 6.0, < 6.1.54>= 6.2, < 6.5.4CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 · scoped6.1.546.5.4
Linux Kernel 6.1.54 or later, OR Linux Kernel 6.5.4 or later (depending on which stable branch you are on)
- Identify the current running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
- Determine which stable branch you are on: if kernel is >= 6.0 and < 6.1.54, plan upgrade to 6.1.54 or later; if kernel is >= 6.2 and < 6.5.4, plan upgrade to 6.5.4 or later
- For production systems, obtain a kernel from your distribution's official repositories that includes the fix (e.g., kernel 6.1.54+, 6.5.4+, or later stable releases)
- Apply the upgrade via standard distribution package manager (apt-get install, yum update, dnf upgrade, etc.) or by compiling from source if using a custom kernel
- Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
- Verify the running kernel version with 'uname -r' to confirm the fix is active
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-53552 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-53552 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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