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🛡️ CVE-2023-53452 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 4.7 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
4.7
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

wifi: rtw89: fix potential race condition between napi_init and napi_enable

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

wifi: rtw89: fix potential race condition between napi_init and napi_enable

A race condition can happen if netdev is registered, but NAPI isn't

initialized yet, and meanwhile user space starts the netdev that will

enable NAPI. Then, it hits BUG_ON():

kernel BUG at net/core/dev.c:6423!

invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI

CPU: 0 PID: 417 Comm: iwd Not tainted 6.2.7-slab-dirty #3 eb0f5a8a9d91

Hardware name: LENOVO 21DL/LNVNB161216, BIOS JPCN20WW(V1.06) 09/20/2022

RIP: 0010:napi_enable+0x3f/0x50

Code: 48 89 c2 48 83 e2 f6 f6 81 89 08 00 00 02 74 0d 48 83 ...

RSP: 0018:ffffada1414f3548 EFLAGS: 00010246

RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffa01425802080 RCX: 0000000000000000

RDX: 00000000000002ff RSI: ffffada14e50c614 RDI: ffffa01425808dc0

RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000

R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000100 R12: ffffa01425808f58

R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffffa01423498940 R15: 0000000000000001

FS: 00007f5577c0a740(0000) GS:ffffa0169fc00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000

CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033

CR2: 00007f5577a19972 CR3: 0000000125a7a000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0

PKRU: 55555554

Call Trace:

<TASK>

rtw89_pci_ops_start+0x1c/0x70 [rtw89_pci 6cbc75429515c181cbc386478d5cfb32ffc5a0f8]

rtw89_core_start+0xbe/0x160 [rtw89_core fe07ecb874820b6d778370d4acb6ef8a37847f22]

rtw89_ops_start+0x26/0x40 [rtw89_core fe07ecb874820b6d778370d4acb6ef8a37847f22]

drv_start+0x42/0x100 [mac80211 c07fa22af8c3cf3f7d7ab3884ca990784d72e2d2]

ieee80211_do_open+0x311/0x7d0 [mac80211 c07fa22af8c3cf3f7d7ab3884ca990784d72e2d2]

ieee80211_open+0x6a/0x90 [mac80211 c07fa22af8c3cf3f7d7ab3884ca990784d72e2d2]

__dev_open+0xe0/0x180

__dev_change_flags+0x1da/0x250

dev_change_flags+0x26/0x70

do_setlink+0x37c/0x12c0

? ep_poll_callback+0x246/0x290

? __nla_validate_parse+0x61/0xd00

? __wake_up_common_lock+0x8f/0xd0

To fix this, follow Jonas' suggestion to switch the order of these

functions and move register netdev to be the last step of PCI probe.

Also, correct the error handling of rtw89_core_register_hw().

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is high, 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:H/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: High — the attacker first has to win a race, learn a secret or otherwise prepare the target.
  • 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-2023-53452 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.3.0 up to 6.3.2)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.3 up to 6.3.2)

Timeline and source

Published on 1 October 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:

CVE-2023-53452 on other distributions

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

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 4.7
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-10-01
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.3.0 6.3.2
linux-kernel 6.3 6.3.2

Similar Threats

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