CVE-2023-53138 | net: caif: Fix use-after-free in cfusbl_device_notify()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: caif: Fix use-after-free in cfusbl_device_notify() syzbot reported use-after-free in cfusbl_device_notify() [1]. This causes a stack trace like below: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in cfusbl_device_notify+0x7c9/0x870 net/caif/caif_usb.c:138 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88807ac4e6f0 by task kworker/u4:6/1214 CPU: 0 PID: 1214 Comm: kworker/u4:6 Not tainted 5.19.0-rc3-syzkaller-00146-g92f20ff72066 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xcd/0x134 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description.constprop.0.cold+0xeb/0x467 mm/kasan/report.c:313 print_report mm/kasan/report.c:429 [inline] kasan_report.cold+0xf4/0x1c6 mm/kasan/report.c:491 cfusbl_device_notify+0x7c9/0x870 net/caif/caif_usb.c:138 notifier_call_chain+0xb5/0x200 kernel/notifier.c:87 call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0xb5/0x130 net/core/dev.c:1945 call_netdevice_notifiers_extack net/core/dev.c:1983 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers net/core/dev.c:1997 [inline] netdev_wait_allrefs_any net/core/dev.c:10227 [inline] netdev_run_todo+0xbc0/0x10f0 net/core/dev.c:10341 default_device_exit_batch+0x44e/0x590 net/core/dev.c:11334 ops_exit_list+0x125/0x170 net/core/net_namespace.c:167 cleanup_net+0x4ea/0xb00 net/core/net_namespace.c:594 process_one_work+0x996/0x1610 kernel/workqueue.c:2289 worker_thread+0x665/0x1080 kernel/workqueue.c:2436 kthread+0x2e9/0x3a0 kernel/kthread.c:376 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:302 </TASK> When unregistering a net device, unregister_netdevice_many_notify() sets the device's reg_state to NETREG_UNREGISTERING, calls notifiers with NETDEV_UNREGISTER, and adds the device to the todo list. Later on, devices in the todo list are processed by netdev_run_todo(). netdev_run_todo() waits devices' reference count become 1 while rebdoadcasting NETDEV_UNREGISTER notification. When cfusbl_device_notify() is called with NETDEV_UNREGISTER multiple times, the parent device might be freed. This could cause UAF. Processing NETDEV_UNREGISTER multiple times also causes inbalance of reference count for the module. This patch fixes the issue by accepting only first NETDEV_UNREGISTER notification.

Published: 2025-05-02 Last update: 2025-11-10 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53138 is rated Low Risk (38.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53138

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-12 0.05% 0.07% +0.02%
2 2026-06-10 0.06% 0.05% -0.02%
3 2026-02-26 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53138

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53138

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53138

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53138 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53138
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53138
suse medium CVE-2023-53138 severity moderate: SUSE including 25 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 109 product×package rows across 24 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (24 product lines)): Known Not Affected 109. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53138/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53138 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 150, released 142, not-affected 94, needed 19, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53138

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53138

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.3, < 4.14.310 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.278 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.237 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.175 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.103 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.20 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.2.7 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53138

cvelogic Threat Intelligence