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🛡️ CVE-2023-53438 — kernel

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

Description

x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors

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

x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors

The Instruction Fetch (IF) units on current AMD Zen-based systems do not

guarantee a synchronous #MC is delivered for poison consumption errors.

Therefore, MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV] will not be set. However, the

microarchitecture does guarantee that the exception is delivered within

the same context. In other words, the exact rIP is not known, but the

context is known to not have changed.

There is no architecturally-defined method to determine this behavior.

The Code Segment (CS) register is always valid on such IF unit poison

errors regardless of the value of MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV].

Add a quirk to save the CS register for poison consumption from the IF

unit banks.

This is needed to properly determine the context of the error.

Otherwise, the severity grading function will assume the context is

IN_KERNEL due to the m->cs value being 0 (the initialized value). This

leads to unnecessary kernel panics on data poison errors due to the

kernel believing the poison consumption occurred in kernel context.

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-2023-53438 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.5.0 up to 6.5.3)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.5 up to 6.5.3)

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)
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:

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 2025-09-18
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.5.0 6.5.3
linux-kernel 6.5 6.5.3

Similar Threats

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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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