CVE-2023-53590 | sctp: add a refcnt in sctp_stream_priorities to avoid a nested loop

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: add a refcnt in sctp_stream_priorities to avoid a nested loop With this refcnt added in sctp_stream_priorities, we don't need to traverse all streams to check if the prio is used by other streams when freeing one stream's prio in sctp_sched_prio_free_sid(). This can avoid a nested loop (up to 65535 * 65535), which may cause a stuck as Ying reported: watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#23 stuck for 26s! [ksoftirqd/23:136] Call Trace: <TASK> sctp_sched_prio_free_sid+0xab/0x100 [sctp] sctp_stream_free_ext+0x64/0xa0 [sctp] sctp_stream_free+0x31/0x50 [sctp] sctp_association_free+0xa5/0x200 [sctp] Note that it doesn't need to use refcount_t type for this counter, as its accessing is always protected under the sock lock. v1->v2: - add a check in sctp_sched_prio_set to avoid the possible prio_head refcnt overflow.

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

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53590 is rated Low Risk (23.9/100): 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-2023-53590

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-2023-53590

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-2023-53590

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53590

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53590 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-2023-53590
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53590
suse low CVE-2023-53590 severity low: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 276 product×package rows across 54 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (54 product lines)): Known Not Affected 276. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53590/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53590 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, released 138, not-affected 100, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53590

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53590

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.4.226, < 5.4.235 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.158, < 5.10.173 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.82, < 5.15.100 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.0.12, < 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1.1, < 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53590

cvelogic Threat Intelligence