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🛡️ CVE-2023-53785 — kernel

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

Description

mt76: mt7921: don't assume adequate headroom for SDIO headers

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

mt76: mt7921: don't assume adequate headroom for SDIO headers

mt7921_usb_sdio_tx_prepare_skb() calls mt7921_usb_sdio_write_txwi() and

mt7921_skb_add_usb_sdio_hdr(), both of which blindly assume that

adequate headroom will be available in the passed skb. This assumption

typically is satisfied when the skb was allocated in the net core for

transmission via the mt7921 netdev (although even that is only an

optimization and is not strictly guaranteed), but the assumption is

sometimes not satisfied when the skb originated in the receive path of

another netdev and was passed through to the mt7921, such as by the

bridge layer. Blindly prepending bytes to an skb is always wrong.

This commit introduces a call to skb_cow_head() before the call to

mt7921_usb_sdio_write_txwi() in mt7921_usb_sdio_tx_prepare_skb() to

ensure that at least MT_SDIO_TXD_SIZE + MT_SDIO_HDR_SIZE bytes can be

pushed onto the skb.

Without this fix, I can trivially cause kernel panics by bridging an

MT7921AU-based USB 802.11ax interface with an Ethernet interface on an

Intel Atom-based x86 system using its onboard RTL8169 PCI Ethernet

adapter and also on an ARM-based Raspberry Pi 1 using its onboard

SMSC9512 USB Ethernet adapter. Note that the panics do not occur in

every system configuration, as they occur only if the receiving netdev

leaves less headroom in its received skbs than the mt7921 needs for its

SDIO headers.

Here is an example stack trace of this panic on Raspberry Pi OS Lite

2023-02-21 running kernel 6.1.24+ [1]:

skb_panic from skb_push+0x44/0x48

skb_push from mt7921_usb_sdio_tx_prepare_skb+0xd4/0x190 [mt7921_common]

mt7921_usb_sdio_tx_prepare_skb [mt7921_common] from mt76u_tx_queue_skb+0x94/0x1d0 [mt76_usb]

mt76u_tx_queue_skb [mt76_usb] from __mt76_tx_queue_skb+0x4c/0xc8 [mt76]

__mt76_tx_queue_skb [mt76] from mt76_txq_schedule.part.0+0x13c/0x398 [mt76]

mt76_txq_schedule.part.0 [mt76] from mt76_txq_schedule_all+0x24/0x30 [mt76]

mt76_txq_schedule_all [mt76] from mt7921_tx_worker+0x58/0xf4 [mt7921_common]

mt7921_tx_worker [mt7921_common] from __mt76_worker_fn+0x9c/0xec [mt76]

__mt76_worker_fn [mt76] from kthread+0xbc/0xe0

kthread from ret_from_fork+0x14/0x34

After this fix, bridging the mt7921 interface works fine on both of my

previously problematic systems.

[1] https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/tree/5c276f55a4b21345cd4d6200a504ee991851ff7a

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-2023-53785 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.2.0 up to 6.5.5)
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 9 December 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. 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-2023-53785 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 2025-12-09
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.2.0 6.5.5
unknown — —

Similar Threats

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