CVE-2023-53578
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: net: qrtr: Fix an uninit variable access bug in qrtr_tx_resume() Syzbot reported a bug as following: ===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in qrtr_tx_resume+0x185/0x1f0 net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:230 qrtr_tx_resume+0x185/0x1f0 net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:230 qrtr_endpoint_post+0xf85/0x11b0 net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:519 qrtr_tun_write_iter+0x270/0x400 net/qrtr/tun.c:108 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2189 [inline] aio_write+0x63a/0x950 fs/aio.c:1600 io_submit_one+0x1d1c/0x3bf0 fs/aio.c:2019 __do_sys_io_submit fs/aio.c:2078 [inline] __se_sys_io_submit+0x293/0x770 fs/aio.c:2048 __x64_sys_io_submit+0x92/0xd0 fs/aio.c:2048 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slab.h:766 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3452 [inline] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x71f/0xce0 mm/slub.c:3491 __do_kmalloc_node mm/slab_common.c:967 [inline] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0x114/0x3b0 mm/slab_common.c:988 kmalloc_reserve net/core/skbuff.c:492 [inline] __alloc_skb+0x3af/0x8f0 net/core/skbuff.c:565 __netdev_alloc_skb+0x120/0x7d0 net/core/skbuff.c:630 qrtr_endpoint_post+0xbd/0x11b0 net/qrtr/af_qrtr.c:446 qrtr_tun_write_iter+0x270/0x400 net/qrtr/tun.c:108 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2189 [inline] aio_write+0x63a/0x950 fs/aio.c:1600 io_submit_one+0x1d1c/0x3bf0 fs/aio.c:2019 __do_sys_io_submit fs/aio.c:2078 [inline] __se_sys_io_submit+0x293/0x770 fs/aio.c:2048 __x64_sys_io_submit+0x92/0xd0 fs/aio.c:2048 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd It is because that skb->len requires at least sizeof(struct qrtr_ctrl_pkt) in qrtr_tx_resume(). And skb->len equals to size in qrtr_endpoint_post(). But size is less than sizeof(struct qrtr_ctrl_pkt) when qrtr_cb->type equals to QRTR_TYPE_RESUME_TX in qrtr_endpoint_post() under the syzbot scenario. This triggers the uninit variable access bug. Add size check when qrtr_cb->type equals to QRTR_TYPE_RESUME_TX in qrtr_endpoint_post() to fix the bug.
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 or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.
General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource 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>= 5.6, < 5.10.178>= 5.11, < 5.15.108>= 5.16, < 6.1.25>= 6.2, < 6.2.12= 6.3CVSS 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 · scoped5.10.1785.15.1086.1.25
Upgrade to kernel 5.10.178 (or 5.10.x later), 5.15.108 (or 5.15.x later), 6.1.25 (or 6.1.x later), or 6.2.12 (or 6.2.x later) depending on your current branch
- Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
- Download or obtain the fixed kernel version for your distribution: 5.10.178, 5.15.108, 6.1.25, or 6.2.12 (or later stable releases within your major version branch)
- For production systems: schedule a maintenance window and follow your standard kernel upgrade procedure for your distribution (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get upgrade for Debian/Ubuntu, yum/dnf update for RHEL/Fedora)
- Reboot the system into the new kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the qrtr_endpoint_post function contains the size check for QRTR_TYPE_RESUME_TX
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-2023-53578 — 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-2023-53578 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
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.
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.
- 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