CVE-2023-53563 | cpufreq: amd-pstate-ut: Fix kernel panic when loading the driver

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: amd-pstate-ut: Fix kernel panic when loading the driver After loading the amd-pstate-ut driver, amd_pstate_ut_check_perf() and amd_pstate_ut_check_freq() use cpufreq_cpu_get() to get the policy of the CPU and mark it as busy. In these functions, cpufreq_cpu_put() should be used to release the policy, but it is not, so any other entity trying to access the policy is blocked indefinitely. One such scenario is when amd_pstate mode is changed, leading to the following splat: [ 1332.103727] INFO: task bash:2929 blocked for more than 120 seconds. [ 1332.110001] Not tainted 6.5.0-rc2-amd-pstate-ut #5 [ 1332.115315] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. [ 1332.123140] task:bash state:D stack:0 pid:2929 ppid:2873 flags:0x00004006 [ 1332.123143] Call Trace: [ 1332.123145] <TASK> [ 1332.123148] __schedule+0x3c1/0x16a0 [ 1332.123154] ? _raw_read_lock_irqsave+0x2d/0x70 [ 1332.123157] schedule+0x6f/0x110 [ 1332.123160] schedule_timeout+0x14f/0x160 [ 1332.123162] ? preempt_count_add+0x86/0xd0 [ 1332.123165] __wait_for_common+0x92/0x190 [ 1332.123168] ? __pfx_schedule_timeout+0x10/0x10 [ 1332.123170] wait_for_completion+0x28/0x30 [ 1332.123173] cpufreq_policy_put_kobj+0x4d/0x90 [ 1332.123177] cpufreq_policy_free+0x157/0x1d0 [ 1332.123178] ? preempt_count_add+0x58/0xd0 [ 1332.123180] cpufreq_remove_dev+0xb6/0x100 [ 1332.123182] subsys_interface_unregister+0x114/0x120 [ 1332.123185] ? preempt_count_add+0x58/0xd0 [ 1332.123187] ? __pfx_amd_pstate_change_driver_mode+0x10/0x10 [ 1332.123190] cpufreq_unregister_driver+0x3b/0xd0 [ 1332.123192] amd_pstate_change_driver_mode+0x1e/0x50 [ 1332.123194] store_status+0xe9/0x180 [ 1332.123197] dev_attr_store+0x1b/0x30 [ 1332.123199] sysfs_kf_write+0x42/0x50 [ 1332.123202] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x143/0x1d0 [ 1332.123204] vfs_write+0x2df/0x400 [ 1332.123208] ksys_write+0x6b/0xf0 [ 1332.123210] __x64_sys_write+0x1d/0x30 [ 1332.123213] do_syscall_64+0x60/0x90 [ 1332.123216] ? fpregs_assert_state_consistent+0x2e/0x50 [ 1332.123219] ? exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x49/0x1a0 [ 1332.123223] ? irqentry_exit_to_user_mode+0xd/0x20 [ 1332.123225] ? irqentry_exit+0x3f/0x50 [ 1332.123226] ? exc_page_fault+0x8e/0x190 [ 1332.123228] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 [ 1332.123232] RIP: 0033:0x7fa74c514a37 [ 1332.123234] RSP: 002b:00007ffe31dd0788 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 [ 1332.123238] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000008 RCX: 00007fa74c514a37 [ 1332.123239] RDX: 0000000000000008 RSI: 000055e27c447aa0 RDI: 0000000000000001 [ 1332.123241] RBP: 000055e27c447aa0 R08: 00007fa74c5d1460 R09: 000000007fffffff [ 1332.123242] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000008 [ 1332.123244] R13: 00007fa74c61a780 R14: 00007fa74c616600 R15: 00007fa74c615a00 [ 1332.123247] </TASK> Fix this by calling cpufreq_cpu_put() wherever necessary. [ rjw: Subject and changelog edits ]

Published: 2025-10-04 Last update: 2026-03-21 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53563 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-2023-53563

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 2025-10-05 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53563

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-2023-53563

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53563

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-53563 unimportant 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-2023-53563
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53563
suse medium CVE-2023-53563 severity moderate: SUSE including 431 source package names (2.1.3-6.88:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-36.1.21.13, 2.1.3-7.105:kernel-rt-6.4.0-38.1, …), 897 product×package rows across 183 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (183 product lines)): Fixed 471, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 195. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53563/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53563 medium priority: Ubuntu including 150 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1350 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 969, ignored 159, not-affected 142, released 80. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53563

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53563

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 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-2023-53563

cvelogic Threat Intelligence