Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53208)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53208). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.1.54, 6.5.4 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

KVM: nSVM: Load L1's TSC multiplier based on L1 state, not L2 state

When emulating nested VM-Exit, load L1's TSC multiplier if L1's desired
ratio doesn't match the current ratio, not if the ratio L1 is using for
L2 diverges from the default. Functionally, the end result is the same
as KVM will run L2 with L1's multiplier if L2's multiplier is the default,
i.e. checking that L1's multiplier is loaded is equivalent to checking if
L2 has a non-default multiplier.

However, the assertion that TSC scaling is exposed to L1 is flawed, as
userspace can trigger the WARN at will by writing the MSR and then
updating guest CPUID to hide the feature (modifying guest CPUID is
allowed anytime before KVM_RUN). E.g. hacking KVM's state_test
selftest to do

            vcpu_set_msr(vcpu, MSR_AMD64_TSC_RATIO, 0);
            vcpu_clear_cpuid_feature(vcpu, X86_FEATURE_TSCRATEMSR);

after restoring state in a new VM+vCPU yields an endless supply of:

------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 10 PID: 206939 at arch/x86/kvm/svm/nested.c:1105
nested_svm_vmexit+0x6af/0x720 [kvm_amd]
Call Trace:
nested_svm_exit_handled+0x102/0x1f0 [kvm_amd]
svm_handle_exit+0xb9/0x180 [kvm_amd]
kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x1eab/0x2570 [kvm]
kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x4c9/0x5b0 [kvm]
? trace_hardirqs_off+0x4d/0xa0
__se_sys_ioctl+0x7a/0xc0
_x64_sys_ioctl+0x21/0x30
do_syscall_64+0x41/0x90
entry_SYSCALL…

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-53208 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.1.54, 6.5.4 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2023-53208" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2023-53208 (Kernel)
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 6.1.54, 6.5.4 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 6.1.54, 6.5.4.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 6.1.54, 6.5.4
```
ステージング環境で 6.1.54, 6.5.4 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.54"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.5.4"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53208 linux Fixed in: 6.1.55-1