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🛡️ CVE-2023-53281 — kernel

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

Description

drivers: staging: rtl8723bs: Fix locking in _rtw_join_timeout_handler()

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

drivers: staging: rtl8723bs: Fix locking in _rtw_join_timeout_handler()

Commit 041879b12ddb ("drivers: staging: rtl8192bs: Fix deadlock in

rtw_joinbss_event_prehandle()") besides fixing the deadlock also

modified _rtw_join_timeout_handler() to use spin_[un]lock_irq()

instead of spin_[un]lock_bh().

_rtw_join_timeout_handler() calls rtw_do_join() which takes

pmlmepriv->scanned_queue.lock using spin_[un]lock_bh(). This

spin_unlock_bh() call re-enables softirqs which triggers an oops in

kernel/softirq.c: __local_bh_enable_ip() when it calls

lockdep_assert_irqs_enabled():

[ 244.506087] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 0 at kernel/softirq.c:376 __local_bh_enable_ip+0xa6/0x100

...

[ 244.509022] Call Trace:

[ 244.509048] <IRQ>

[ 244.509100] _rtw_join_timeout_handler+0x134/0x170 [r8723bs]

[ 244.509468] ? __pfx__rtw_join_timeout_handler+0x10/0x10 [r8723bs]

[ 244.509772] ? __pfx__rtw_join_timeout_handler+0x10/0x10 [r8723bs]

[ 244.510076] call_timer_fn+0x95/0x2a0

[ 244.510200] __run_timers.part.0+0x1da/0x2d0

This oops is causd by the switch to spin_[un]lock_irq() which disables

the IRQs for the entire duration of _rtw_join_timeout_handler().

Disabling the IRQs is not necessary since all code taking this lock

runs from either user contexts or from softirqs, switch back to

spin_[un]lock_bh() to fix this.

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-2023-53281 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.2.0 up to 6.3.2)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.3 up to 6.3.2)

Timeline and source

Published on 16 September 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)
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-2023-53281 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 2025-09-16
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.2.0 6.3.2
linux-kernel 6.3 6.3.2

Similar Threats

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