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🛡️ CVE-2023-53011 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default

In the original implementation of dwmac5

commit 8bf993a5877e ("net: stmmac: Add support for DWMAC5 and implement Safety Features")

all safety features were enabled by default.

Later it seems some implementations didn't have support for all the

features, so in

commit 5ac712dcdfef ("net: stmmac: enable platform specific safety features")

the safety_feat_cfg structure was added to the callback and defined for

some platforms to selectively enable these safety features.

The problem is that only certain platforms were given that software

support. If the automotive safety package bit is set in the hardware

features register the safety feature callback is called for the platform,

and for platforms that didn't get a safety_feat_cfg defined this results

in the following NULL pointer dereference:

[ 7.933303] Call trace:

[ 7.935812] dwmac5_safety_feat_config+0x20/0x170 [stmmac]

[ 7.941455] __stmmac_open+0x16c/0x474 [stmmac]

[ 7.946117] stmmac_open+0x38/0x70 [stmmac]

[ 7.950414] __dev_open+0x100/0x1dc

[ 7.954006] __dev_change_flags+0x18c/0x204

[ 7.958297] dev_change_flags+0x24/0x6c

[ 7.962237] do_setlink+0x2b8/0xfa4

[ 7.965827] __rtnl_newlink+0x4ec/0x840

[ 7.969766] rtnl_newlink+0x50/0x80

[ 7.973353] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x12c/0x374

[ 7.977557] netlink_rcv_skb+0x5c/0x130

[ 7.981500] rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x2c

[ 7.985172] netlink_unicast+0x2e8/0x340

[ 7.989197] netlink_sendmsg+0x1a8/0x420

[ 7.993222] ____sys_sendmsg+0x218/0x280

[ 7.997249] ___sys_sendmsg+0xac/0x100

[ 8.001103] __sys_sendmsg+0x84/0xe0

[ 8.004776] __arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x24/0x30

[ 8.008983] invoke_syscall+0x48/0x114

[ 8.012840] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xcc/0xec

[ 8.017665] do_el0_svc+0x38/0xb0

[ 8.021071] el0_svc+0x2c/0x84

[ 8.024212] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xf4/0x120

[ 8.028598] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194

Go back to the original behavior, if the automotive safety package

is found to be supported in hardware enable all the features unless

safety_feat_cfg is passed in saying this particular platform only

supports a subset of the features.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-53011 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 5.16.0 up to 6.1.9)
  • linux-kernel

Timeline and source

Published on 27 March 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2023-53011 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-03-27
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 5.16.0 6.1.9
linux-kernel — —

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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