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🛡️ CVE-2023-53431 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 8.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
8.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

scsi: ses: Handle enclosure with just a primary component gracefully

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

scsi: ses: Handle enclosure with just a primary component gracefully

This reverts commit 3fe97ff3d949 ("scsi: ses: Don't attach if enclosure

has no components") and introduces proper handling of case where there are

no detected secondary components, but primary component (enumerated in

num_enclosures) does exist. That fix was originally proposed by Ding Hui

<[email protected]>.

Completely ignoring devices that have one primary enclosure and no

secondary one results in ses_intf_add() bailing completely

scsi 2:0:0:254: enclosure has no enumerated components

scsi 2:0:0:254: Failed to bind enclosure -12ven in valid configurations such

even on valid configurations with 1 primary and 0 secondary enclosures as

below:

# sg_ses /dev/sg0

3PARdata SES 3321

Supported diagnostic pages:

Supported Diagnostic Pages [sdp] [0x0]

Configuration (SES) [cf] [0x1]

Short Enclosure Status (SES) [ses] [0x8]

# sg_ses -p cf /dev/sg0

3PARdata SES 3321

Configuration diagnostic page:

number of secondary subenclosures: 0

generation code: 0x0

enclosure descriptor list

Subenclosure identifier: 0 [primary]

relative ES process id: 0, number of ES processes: 1

number of type descriptor headers: 1

enclosure logical identifier (hex): 20000002ac02068d

enclosure vendor: 3PARdata product: VV rev: 3321

type descriptor header and text list

Element type: Unspecified, subenclosure id: 0

number of possible elements: 1

The changelog for the original fix follows

=====

We can get a crash when disconnecting the iSCSI session,

the call trace like this:

[ffff00002a00fb70] kfree at ffff00000830e224

[ffff00002a00fba0] ses_intf_remove at ffff000001f200e4

[ffff00002a00fbd0] device_del at ffff0000086b6a98

[ffff00002a00fc50] device_unregister at ffff0000086b6d58

[ffff00002a00fc70] __scsi_remove_device at ffff00000870608c

[ffff00002a00fca0] scsi_remove_device at ffff000008706134

[ffff00002a00fcc0] __scsi_remove_target at ffff0000087062e4

[ffff00002a00fd10] scsi_remove_target at ffff0000087064c0

[ffff00002a00fd70] __iscsi_unbind_session at ffff000001c872c4

[ffff00002a00fdb0] process_one_work at ffff00000810f35c

[ffff00002a00fe00] worker_thread at ffff00000810f648

[ffff00002a00fe70] kthread at ffff000008116e98

In ses_intf_add, components count could be 0, and kcalloc 0 size scomp,

but not saved in edev->component[i].scratch

In this situation, edev->component[0].scratch is an invalid pointer,

when kfree it in ses_intf_remove_enclosure, a crash like above would happen

The call trace also could be other random cases when kfree cannot catch

the invalid pointer

We should not use edev->component[] array when the components count is 0

We also need check index when use edev->component[] array in

ses_enclosure_data_process

=====

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached from an adjacent network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

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

  • Attack vector: Adjacent network — the attacker has to sit on the same local or logical network.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-53431 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.2.0 up to 6.2.12)
  • linux-kernel

Timeline and source

Published on 18 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)
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-2023-53431 on other distributions

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

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 8.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-09-18
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.2.0 6.2.12
linux-kernel — —

Similar Threats

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