🛡️ CVE-2023-52973 on Ubuntu — linux
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vc_screen: move load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_read() to avoid UAF After a call to console_unlock() in vcs_read() the vc_data struct can be freed by vc_deallocate(). Because of that, the struct vc_data pointer load must be done at the top of while loop in vcs_read() to avoid a UAF when vcs_size() is called. Syzkaller reported a UAF in vcs_size(). BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in vcs_size (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:215) Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881137479a8 by task 4a005ed81e27e65/1537 CPU: 0 PID: 1537 Comm: 4a005ed81e27e65 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc5 #1 Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.15.0-2.module Call Trace: <TASK> __asan_report_load4_noabort (mm/kasan/report_generic.c:350) vcs_size (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:215) vcs_read (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:415) vfs_read (fs/read_write.c:468 fs/read_write.c:450) ... </TASK> Allocated by task 1191: ... kmalloc_trace (mm/slab_common.c:1069) vc_allocate (./include/linux/slab.h:580 ./include/linux/slab.h:720 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1128 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1108) con_install (drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:3383) tty_init_dev (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1301 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1413 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1390) tty_open (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2080 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2126) chrdev_open (fs/char_dev.c:415) do_dentry_open (fs/open.c:883) vfs_open (fs/open.c:1014) ... Freed by task 1548: ... kfree (mm/slab_common.c:1021) vc_port_destruct (drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1094) tty_port_destructor (drivers/tty/tty_port.c:296) tty_port_put (drivers/tty/tty_port.c:312) vt_disallocate_all (drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c:662 (discriminator 2)) vt_ioctl (drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c:903) tty_ioctl (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2776) ... The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888113747800 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 The buggy address is located 424 bytes inside of 1024-byte region [ffff888113747800, ffff888113747c00) The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page:00000000b3fe6c7c refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x113740 head:00000000b3fe6c7c order:3 compound_mapcount:0 subpages_mapcount:0 compound_pincount:0 anon flags: 0x17ffffc0010200(slab|head|node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) raw: 0017ffffc0010200 ffff888100042dc0 0000000000000000 dead000000000001 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888113747880: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888113747900: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb > ffff888113747980: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff888113747a00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888113747a80: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ================================================================== Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
Distribution advisory
This page covers CVE-2023-52973 as tracked by Ubuntu, for the package linux. The fix is available in version 5.15.0-72.79; earlier versions remain affected.
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 high, integrity high, 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:H/I:H/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: 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
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52973 is recorded against 113 packages.
- linux (fixed in 5.15.0-72.79)
- linux-allwinner-5.19
- linux-aws (fixed in 5.15.0-1036.40)
- linux-aws-5.0
- linux-aws-5.11
- linux-aws-5.13
- linux-aws-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1036.40~20.04.1)
- linux-aws-5.19
- linux-aws-5.3
- linux-aws-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-1103.111~18.04.1)
- linux-aws-5.8
- linux-aws-6.2
- linux-aws-6.5
- linux-aws-fips
- linux-aws-hwe (fixed in 4.15.0-1156.169~16.04.1)
- linux-azure (fixed in 5.15.0-1038.45)
- linux-azure-4.15 (fixed in 4.15.0-1165.180)
- linux-azure-5.11
- linux-azure-5.13
- linux-azure-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1038.45~20.04.1)
- linux-azure-5.19
- linux-azure-5.3
- linux-azure-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-1108.114~18.04.1)
- linux-azure-5.8
Show the remaining 89 packages
- linux-azure-6.2
- linux-azure-6.5
- linux-azure-edge
- linux-azure-fde
- linux-azure-fde-5.19
- linux-azure-fde-6.2
- linux-azure-fips
- linux-bluefield
- linux-fips
- linux-gcp (fixed in 5.15.0-1034.42)
- linux-gcp-4.15 (fixed in 4.15.0-1150.166)
- linux-gcp-5.11
- linux-gcp-5.13
- linux-gcp-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1034.42~20.04.1)
- linux-gcp-5.19
- linux-gcp-5.3
- linux-gcp-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-1105.114~18.04.1)
- linux-gcp-5.8
- linux-gcp-6.2
- linux-gcp-6.5
- linux-gcp-fips
- linux-gke (fixed in 5.15.0-1033.38)
- linux-gke-4.15
- linux-gke-5.15
- linux-gke-5.4
- linux-gkeop (fixed in 5.15.0-1020.25)
- linux-gkeop-5.15
- linux-gkeop-5.4
- linux-hwe
- linux-hwe-5.11
- linux-hwe-5.13
- linux-hwe-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-72.79~20.04.1)
- linux-hwe-5.19
- linux-hwe-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-149.166~18.04.1)
- linux-hwe-5.8
- linux-hwe-6.2
- linux-hwe-6.5
- linux-hwe-edge
- linux-ibm (fixed in 5.15.0-1030.33)
- linux-ibm-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-1049.54~18.04.1)
- linux-intel-5.13
- linux-intel-iot-realtime (fixed in 5.15.0-1028.33)
- linux-intel-iotg (fixed in 5.15.0-1030.35)
- linux-intel-iotg-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1030.35~20.04.1)
- linux-iot (fixed in 5.4.0-1017.18)
- linux-kvm (fixed in 5.15.0-1033.38)
- linux-lowlatency (fixed in 5.15.0-72.79)
- linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-72.79~20.04.1)
- linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19
- linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2
- linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5
- linux-lts-xenial (fixed in 4.4.0-244.278~14.04.1)
- linux-nvidia (fixed in 5.15.0-1025.25)
- linux-nvidia-6.2
- linux-nvidia-6.5
- linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1014.14~20.04.1)
- linux-oem
- linux-oem-5.10
- linux-oem-5.13
- linux-oem-5.14
- linux-oem-5.17
- linux-oem-5.6
- linux-oem-6.0
- linux-oem-6.1
- linux-oem-6.5
- linux-oracle (fixed in 5.15.0-1035.41)
- linux-oracle-5.0
- linux-oracle-5.11
- linux-oracle-5.13
- linux-oracle-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1035.41~20.04.1)
- linux-oracle-5.3
- linux-oracle-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-1101.110~18.04.1)
- linux-oracle-5.8
- linux-oracle-6.5
- linux-raspi (fixed in 5.15.0-1029.31)
- linux-raspi-5.4 (fixed in 5.4.0-1085.96~18.04.1)
- linux-raspi-realtime
- linux-raspi2
- linux-realtime
- linux-riscv
- linux-riscv-5.11
- linux-riscv-5.15 (fixed in 5.15.0-1033.37~20.04.1)
- linux-riscv-5.19
- linux-riscv-5.8
- linux-riscv-6.5
- linux-starfive-5.19
- linux-starfive-6.2
- linux-starfive-6.5
- linux-xilinx-zynqmp (fixed in 5.4.0-1024.28)
Timeline and source
Published on 27 March 2025 and last revised on 17 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.
References
ubuntu.com (Report)
www.cve.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
git.kernel.org (Report)
Other advisories for this package
linux has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:
- DEBIAN-CVE-2022-4994 (published 30 Jul 2026)
- CVE-2026-35233 (4.4 Medium, published 1 May 2026)
- CVE-2026-21996 (3.3 Low, published 1 May 2026)
- CVE-2026-21991 (5.5 Medium, published 16 Mar 2026)
- CGA-mcwh-q4vm-9f29 (published 29 Jan 2026)
- CGA-w6xv-3fg4-grm5 (published 29 Jan 2026)
- CGA-3vcx-q795-mc44 (published 7 Jan 2026)
- CGA-chv5-f6xr-gw4q (published 7 Jan 2026)
CVE-2023-52973 on other distributions
Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 5.15.0-72.79 |
| linux-allwinner-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-aws | — | 5.15.0-1036.40 |
| linux-aws-5.0 | — | — |
| linux-aws-5.11 | — | — |
| linux-aws-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-aws-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1036.40~20.04.1 |
| linux-aws-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-aws-5.3 | — | — |
| linux-aws-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-1103.111~18.04.1 |
| linux-aws-5.8 | — | — |
| linux-aws-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-aws-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-aws-fips | — | — |
| linux-aws-hwe | — | 4.15.0-1156.169~16.04.1 |
| linux-azure | — | 5.15.0-1038.45 |
| linux-azure-4.15 | — | 4.15.0-1165.180 |
| linux-azure-5.11 | — | — |
| linux-azure-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-azure-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1038.45~20.04.1 |
| linux-azure-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-azure-5.3 | — | — |
| linux-azure-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-1108.114~18.04.1 |
| linux-azure-5.8 | — | — |
| linux-azure-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-azure-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-azure-edge | — | — |
| linux-azure-fde | — | — |
| linux-azure-fde-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-azure-fde-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-azure-fips | — | — |
| linux-bluefield | — | — |
| linux-fips | — | — |
| linux-gcp | — | 5.15.0-1034.42 |
| linux-gcp-4.15 | — | 4.15.0-1150.166 |
| linux-gcp-5.11 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1034.42~20.04.1 |
| linux-gcp-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-5.3 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-1105.114~18.04.1 |
| linux-gcp-5.8 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-gcp-fips | — | — |
| linux-gke | — | 5.15.0-1033.38 |
| linux-gke-4.15 | — | — |
| linux-gke-5.15 | — | — |
| linux-gke-5.4 | — | — |
| linux-gkeop | — | 5.15.0-1020.25 |
| linux-gkeop-5.15 | — | — |
| linux-gkeop-5.4 | — | — |
| linux-hwe | — | — |
| linux-hwe-5.11 | — | — |
| linux-hwe-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-hwe-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-72.79~20.04.1 |
| linux-hwe-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-hwe-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-149.166~18.04.1 |
| linux-hwe-5.8 | — | — |
| linux-hwe-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-hwe-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-hwe-edge | — | — |
| linux-ibm | — | 5.15.0-1030.33 |
| linux-ibm-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-1049.54~18.04.1 |
| linux-intel-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-intel-iot-realtime | — | 5.15.0-1028.33 |
| linux-intel-iotg | — | 5.15.0-1030.35 |
| linux-intel-iotg-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1030.35~20.04.1 |
| linux-iot | — | 5.4.0-1017.18 |
| linux-kvm | — | 5.15.0-1033.38 |
| linux-lowlatency | — | 5.15.0-72.79 |
| linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-72.79~20.04.1 |
| linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-lts-xenial | — | 4.4.0-244.278~14.04.1 |
| linux-nvidia | — | 5.15.0-1025.25 |
| linux-nvidia-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-nvidia-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1014.14~20.04.1 |
| linux-oem | — | — |
| linux-oem-5.10 | — | — |
| linux-oem-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-oem-5.14 | — | — |
| linux-oem-5.17 | — | — |
| linux-oem-5.6 | — | — |
| linux-oem-6.0 | — | — |
| linux-oem-6.1 | — | — |
| linux-oem-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-oracle | — | 5.15.0-1035.41 |
| linux-oracle-5.0 | — | — |
| linux-oracle-5.11 | — | — |
| linux-oracle-5.13 | — | — |
| linux-oracle-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1035.41~20.04.1 |
| linux-oracle-5.3 | — | — |
| linux-oracle-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-1101.110~18.04.1 |
| linux-oracle-5.8 | — | — |
| linux-oracle-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-raspi | — | 5.15.0-1029.31 |
| linux-raspi-5.4 | — | 5.4.0-1085.96~18.04.1 |
| linux-raspi-realtime | — | — |
| linux-raspi2 | — | — |
| linux-realtime | — | — |
| linux-riscv | — | — |
| linux-riscv-5.11 | — | — |
| linux-riscv-5.15 | — | 5.15.0-1033.37~20.04.1 |
| linux-riscv-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-riscv-5.8 | — | — |
| linux-riscv-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-starfive-5.19 | — | — |
| linux-starfive-6.2 | — | — |
| linux-starfive-6.5 | — | — |
| linux-xilinx-zynqmp | — | 5.4.0-1024.28 |
References
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