Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53246)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53246). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.10.177, 5.15.106, 6.1.23, 6.2.10 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

cifs: fix DFS traversal oops without CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL

When compiled with CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL disabled, cifs_dfs_d_automount
is NULL. cifs.ko logic for mapping CIFS_FATTR_DFS_REFERRAL attributes to
S_AUTOMOUNT and corresponding dentry flags is retained regardless of
CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL, leading to a NULL pointer dereference in
VFS follow_automount() when traversing a DFS referral link:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
...
Call Trace:

__traverse_mounts+0xb5/0x220
? cifs_revalidate_mapping+0x65/0xc0 [cifs]
step_into+0x195/0x610
? lookup_fast+0xe2/0xf0
path_lookupat+0x64/0x140
filename_lookup+0xc2/0x140
? __create_object+0x299/0x380
? kmem_cache_alloc+0x119/0x220
? user_path_at_empty+0x31/0x50
user_path_at_empty+0x31/0x50
__x64_sys_chdir+0x2a/0xd0
? exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0xca/0x100
do_syscall_64+0x42/0x90
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

This fix adds an inline cifs_dfs_d_automount() {return -EREMOTE} handler
when CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL is disabled. An alternative would be to
avoid flagging S_AUTOMOUNT, etc. without CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL. This
approach was chosen as it provides more control over the error path.

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-2023-53246 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 5.10.177, 5.15.106, 6.1.23, 6.2.10 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2023-53246" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2023-53246 (Kernel)
Patched: 5.10.177, 5.15.106, 6.1.23, 6.2.10 — 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 5.10.177, 5.15.106, 6.1.23, 6.2.10.

🛡️ 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 5.10.177, 5.15.106, 6.1.23, 6.2.10
```
ステージング環境で 5.10.177, 5.15.106, 6.1.23, 6.2.10 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":"5.7.0"},{"fixed":"5.10.177"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.11.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.106"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.23"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.2.10"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53246 linux Fixed in: 5.10.178-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53246 linux