CVE-2023-53369 | net: dcb: choose correct policy to parse DCB_ATTR_BCN

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dcb: choose correct policy to parse DCB_ATTR_BCN The dcbnl_bcn_setcfg uses erroneous policy to parse tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN], which is introduced in commit 859ee3c43812 ("DCB: Add support for DCB BCN"). Please see the comment in below code static int dcbnl_bcn_setcfg(...) { ... ret = nla_parse_nested_deprecated(..., dcbnl_pfc_up_nest, .. ) // !!! dcbnl_pfc_up_nest for attributes // DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0 to DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL in enum dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7 in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_byte = nla_get_u8(data[i]); ... } ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_int = nla_get_u32(data[i]); ... } ... } That is, the nla_parse_nested_deprecated uses dcbnl_pfc_up_nest attributes to parse nlattr defined in dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs. But the following access code fetch each nlattr as dcbnl_bcn_attrs attributes. By looking up the associated nla_policy for dcbnl_bcn_attrs. We can find the beginning part of these two policies are "same". static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_pfc_up_nest[...] = { [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_bcn_nest[...] = { [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, // from here is somewhat different [DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0] = {.type = NLA_U32}, ... [DCB_BCN_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; Therefore, the current code is buggy and this nla_parse_nested_deprecated could overflow the dcbnl_pfc_up_nest and use the adjacent nla_policy to parse attributes from DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0. Hence use the correct policy dcbnl_bcn_nest to parse the nested tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN] TLV.

Published: 2025-09-18 Last update: 2026-01-14 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53369 is rated Low Risk (24.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). 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-2023-53369

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 2025-09-19 0.03%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53369

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53369

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53369

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53369 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-2023-53369
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53369
suse medium CVE-2023-53369 severity moderate: SUSE including 416 source package names (2.1.3-6.80:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-35.1.21.12, 2.1.3-7.57:kernel-default-6.4.0-35.1, …), 800 product×package rows across 170 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (170 product lines)): Fixed 504, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 65. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53369/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53369 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 162, released 138, not-affected 77, needed 19, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53369

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53369

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.29, < 5.4.253 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.190 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.126 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.45 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.4.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53369

cvelogic Threat Intelligence