CVE-2023-53216 [High] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: efi: Make efi_rt_lock a raw_spinlock Running a rt-kernel base on 6.2.0-rc3-rt1 on an Ampere Altra outputs the following: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:46 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 9, name: kworker/u320:0 preempt_count: 2, expected: 0 RCU nest depth: 0, expected: 0 3 locks held by kworker/u320:0/9: #0: ffff3fff8c27d128 ((wq_completion)efi_rts_wq){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work (./include/linux/atomic/atomic-long.h:41) #1: ffff80000861bdd0 ((work_completion)(&efi_rts_work.work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work (./include/linux/atomic/atomic-long.h:41) #2: ffffdf7e1ed3e460 (efi_rt_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: efi_call_rts (drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c:101) Preemption disabled at: efi_virtmap_load (./arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu_context.h:248) CPU: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/u320:0 Tainted: G W 6.2.0-rc3-rt1 Hardware name: WIWYNN Mt.Jade Server System B81.03001.0005/Mt.Jade Motherboard, BIOS 1.08.20220218 (SCP: 1.08.20220218) 2022/02/18 Workqueue: efi_rts_wq efi_call_rts Call trace: dump_backtrace (arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:158) show_stack (arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:165) dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:107 (discriminator 4)) dump_stack (lib/dump_stack.c:114) __might_resched (kernel/sched/core.c:10134) rt_spin_lock (kernel/locking/rtmutex.c:1769 (discriminator 4)) efi_call_rts (drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c:101) [...] This seems to come from commit ff7a167961d1 ("arm64: efi: Execute runtime services from a dedicated stack") which adds a spinlock. This spinlock is taken through: efi_call_rts() \-efi_call_virt() \-efi_call_virt_pointer() \-arch_efi_call_virt_setup() Make 'efi_rt_lock' a raw_spinlock to avoid being preempted. [ardb: The EFI runtime services are called with a different set of translation tables, and are permitted to use the SIMD registers. The context switch code preserves/restores neither, and so EFI calls must be made with preemption disabled, rather than only disabling migration.]

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.02%	0.15%	+0.13%
2	2025-09-16	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.02%

0.15%

+0.13%

2025-09-16

—

0.02%

—

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]
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	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

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]

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

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53216

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-53216 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-2023-53216
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53216
`suse`	medium	—	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53216/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-53216 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 158, not-affected 122, released 116, needs-triage 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53216

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53216

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.10.165, < 5.10.175	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.15.90, < 5.15.103	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.1.8, < 6.1.18	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.2.5	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2023-53216

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/030b1c4217a4f504c7d0795a2bd86b7181e56f11	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e68b5517d3767562889f1d83fdb828c26adb24f	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e8f7d998b582a99aadedd07ae6086e99b89c97a	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a72729ed6accc86dad5522895e8fa2f96642a2c	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b38969fa01662ec539a0d08a8ea5ec6f31fa4ed	Patch

URL

CVE-2023-53216 | arm64: efi: Make efi_rt_lock a raw_spinlock

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53216

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53216

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53216

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53216

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53216

References for CVE-2023-53216