CVE-2023-53438 | x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors The Instruction Fetch (IF) units on current AMD Zen-based systems do not guarantee a synchronous #MC is delivered for poison consumption errors. Therefore, MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV] will not be set. However, the microarchitecture does guarantee that the exception is delivered within the same context. In other words, the exact rIP is not known, but the context is known to not have changed. There is no architecturally-defined method to determine this behavior. The Code Segment (CS) register is always valid on such IF unit poison errors regardless of the value of MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV]. Add a quirk to save the CS register for poison consumption from the IF unit banks. This is needed to properly determine the context of the error. Otherwise, the severity grading function will assume the context is IN_KERNEL due to the m->cs value being 0 (the initialized value). This leads to unnecessary kernel panics on data poison errors due to the kernel believing the poison consumption occurred in kernel context.

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

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53438 is rated Low Risk (23.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2023-53438

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 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53438

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-2023-53438

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53438

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53438 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53438
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53438
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53438/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53438 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 88, needed 75, not-affected 72. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53438

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53438

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 6.1.53 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.4.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.5, < 6.5.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53438

cvelogic Threat Intelligence