Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53291)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53291). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

rcu/rcuscale: Stop kfree_scale_thread thread(s) after unloading rcuscale

Running the 'kfree_rcu_test' test case [1] results in a splat [2].
The root cause is the kfree_scale_thread thread(s) continue running
after unloading the rcuscale module. This commit fixes that isue by
invoking kfree_scale_cleanup() from rcu_scale_cleanup() when removing
the rcuscale module.

[1] modprobe rcuscale kfree_rcu_test=1
// After some time
rmmod rcuscale
rmmod torture

[2] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffffc0601a87
#PF: supervisor instruction fetch in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0010) - not-present page
PGD 11de4f067 P4D 11de4f067 PUD 11de51067 PMD 112f4d067 PTE 0
Oops: 0010 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 1 PID: 1798 Comm: kfree_scale_thr Not tainted 6.3.0-rc1-rcu+ #1
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
RIP: 0010:0xffffffffc0601a87
Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffc0601a5d.
RSP: 0018:ffffb25bc2e57e18 EFLAGS: 00010297
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffffffc061f0b6 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff962fd0de RDI: ffffffff962fd0de
RBP: ffffb25bc2e57ea8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 000000000000000a R15: 00000000001c1dbe
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff921…

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-2023-53291 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2023-53291" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2023-53291 (Kernel)
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4 — 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 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4.

🛡️ 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 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4
```
ステージング環境で 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4 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":"5.6.0"},{"fixed":"5.10.188"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.11.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.121"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.39"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.3.13"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.4.0"},{"fixed":"6.4.4"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53291 linux Fixed in: 5.10.191-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53291 linux-hwe-edge