CVE-2023-53509 | qed: allow sleep in qed_mcp_trace_dump()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: qed: allow sleep in qed_mcp_trace_dump() By default, qed_mcp_cmd_and_union() delays 10us at a time in a loop that can run 500K times, so calls to qed_mcp_nvm_rd_cmd() may block the current thread for over 5s. We observed thread scheduling delays over 700ms in production, with stacktraces pointing to this code as the culprit. qed_mcp_trace_dump() is called from ethtool, so sleeping is permitted. It already can sleep in qed_mcp_halt(), which calls qed_mcp_cmd(). Add a "can sleep" parameter to qed_find_nvram_image() and qed_nvram_read() so they can sleep during qed_mcp_trace_dump(). qed_mcp_trace_get_meta_info() and qed_mcp_trace_read_meta(), called only by qed_mcp_trace_dump(), allow these functions to sleep. I can't tell if the other caller (qed_grc_dump_mcp_hw_dump()) can sleep, so keep b_can_sleep set to false when it calls these functions. An example stacktrace from a custom warning we added to the kernel showing a thread that has not scheduled despite long needing resched: [ 2745.362925,17] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 2745.362941,17] WARNING: CPU: 23 PID: 5640 at arch/x86/kernel/irq.c:233 do_IRQ+0x15e/0x1a0() [ 2745.362946,17] Thread not rescheduled for 744 ms after irq 99 [ 2745.362956,17] Modules linked in: ... [ 2745.363339,17] CPU: 23 PID: 5640 Comm: lldpd Tainted: P O 4.4.182+ #202104120910+6d1da174272d.61x [ 2745.363343,17] Hardware name: FOXCONN MercuryB/Quicksilver Controller, BIOS H11P1N09 07/08/2020 [ 2745.363346,17] 0000000000000000 ffff885ec07c3ed8 ffffffff8131eb2f ffff885ec07c3f20 [ 2745.363358,17] ffffffff81d14f64 ffff885ec07c3f10 ffffffff81072ac2 ffff88be98ed0000 [ 2745.363369,17] 0000000000000063 0000000000000174 0000000000000074 0000000000000000 [ 2745.363379,17] Call Trace: [ 2745.363382,17] <IRQ> [<ffffffff8131eb2f>] dump_stack+0x8e/0xcf [ 2745.363393,17] [<ffffffff81072ac2>] warn_slowpath_common+0x82/0xc0 [ 2745.363398,17] [<ffffffff81072b4c>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0x4c/0x50 [ 2745.363404,17] [<ffffffff810d5a8e>] ? rcu_irq_exit+0xae/0xc0 [ 2745.363408,17] [<ffffffff817c99fe>] do_IRQ+0x15e/0x1a0 [ 2745.363413,17] [<ffffffff817c7ac9>] common_interrupt+0x89/0x89 [ 2745.363416,17] <EOI> [<ffffffff8132aa74>] ? delay_tsc+0x24/0x50 [ 2745.363425,17] [<ffffffff8132aa04>] __udelay+0x34/0x40 [ 2745.363457,17] [<ffffffffa04d45ff>] qed_mcp_cmd_and_union+0x36f/0x7d0 [qed] [ 2745.363473,17] [<ffffffffa04d5ced>] qed_mcp_nvm_rd_cmd+0x4d/0x90 [qed] [ 2745.363490,17] [<ffffffffa04e1dc7>] qed_mcp_trace_dump+0x4a7/0x630 [qed] [ 2745.363504,17] [<ffffffffa04e2556>] ? qed_fw_asserts_dump+0x1d6/0x1f0 [qed] [ 2745.363520,17] [<ffffffffa04e4ea7>] qed_dbg_mcp_trace_get_dump_buf_size+0x37/0x80 [qed] [ 2745.363536,17] [<ffffffffa04ea881>] qed_dbg_feature_size+0x61/0xa0 [qed] [ 2745.363551,17] [<ffffffffa04eb427>] qed_dbg_all_data_size+0x247/0x260 [qed] [ 2745.363560,17] [<ffffffffa0482c10>] qede_get_regs_len+0x30/0x40 [qede] [ 2745.363566,17] [<ffffffff816c9783>] ethtool_get_drvinfo+0xe3/0x190 [ 2745.363570,17] [<ffffffff816cc152>] dev_ethtool+0x1362/0x2140 [ 2745.363575,17] [<ffffffff8109bcc6>] ? finish_task_switch+0x76/0x260 [ 2745.363580,17] [<ffffffff817c2116>] ? __schedule+0x3c6/0x9d0 [ 2745.363585,17] [<ffffffff810dbd50>] ? hrtimer_start_range_ns+0x1d0/0x370 [ 2745.363589,17] [<ffffffff816c1e5b>] ? dev_get_by_name_rcu+0x6b/0x90 [ 2745.363594,17] [<ffffffff816de6a8>] dev_ioctl+0xe8/0x710 [ 2745.363599,17] [<ffffffff816a58a8>] sock_do_ioctl+0x48/0x60 [ 2745.363603,17] [<ffffffff816a5d87>] sock_ioctl+0x1c7/0x280 [ 2745.363608,17] [<ffffffff8111f393>] ? seccomp_phase1+0x83/0x220 [ 2745.363612,17] [<ffffffff811e3503>] do_vfs_ioctl+0x2b3/0x4e0 [ 2745.363616,17] [<ffffffff811e3771>] SyS_ioctl+0x41/0x70 [ 2745.363619,17] [<ffffffff817c6ffe>] entry_SYSCALL_64_fastpath+0x1e/0x79 [ 2745.363622,17] ---[ end trace f6954aa440266421 ]---

Published: 2025-10-01 Last update: 2026-01-23 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53509 is rated Low Risk (23/100): 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-2023-53509

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 2025-10-01 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53509

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53509

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53509

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53509 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-2023-53509
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53509
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53509/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53509 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 159, released 88, not-affected 80, needed 70. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53509

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53509

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.9, < 6.0.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53509

cvelogic Threat Intelligence