CVE-2023-53632 | net/mlx5e: Take RTNL lock when needed before calling xdp_set_features()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Take RTNL lock when needed before calling xdp_set_features() Hold RTNL lock when calling xdp_set_features() with a registered netdev, as the call triggers the netdev notifiers. This could happen when switching from uplink rep to nic profile for example. This resolves the following call trace: RTNL: assertion failed at net/core/dev.c (1953) WARNING: CPU: 6 PID: 112670 at net/core/dev.c:1953 call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7c/0x80 Modules linked in: sch_mqprio sch_mqprio_lib act_tunnel_key act_mirred act_skbedit cls_matchall nfnetlink_cttimeout act_gact cls_flower sch_ingress bonding ib_umad ip_gre rdma_ucm mlx5_vfio_pci ipip tunnel4 ip6_gre gre mlx5_ib vfio_pci vfio_pci_core vfio_iommu_type1 ib_uverbs vfio mlx5_core ib_ipoib geneve nf_tables ip6_tunnel tunnel6 iptable_raw openvswitch nsh rpcrdma ib_iser libiscsi scsi_transport_iscsi rdma_cm iw_cm ib_cm ib_core xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlink xt_addrtype iptable_nat nf_nat br_netfilter rpcsec_gss_krb5 auth_rpcgss oid_registry overlay zram zsmalloc fuse [last unloaded: ib_uverbs] CPU: 6 PID: 112670 Comm: devlink Not tainted 6.4.0-rc7_for_upstream_min_debug_2023_06_28_17_02 #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7c/0x80 Code: 90 ff 80 3d 2d 6b f7 00 00 75 c5 ba a1 07 00 00 48 c7 c6 e4 ce 0b 82 48 c7 c7 c8 f4 04 82 c6 05 11 6b f7 00 01 e8 a4 7c 8e ff <0f> 0b eb a2 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 48 89 e5 41 54 48 83 e4 f0 48 83 ec RSP: 0018:ffff8882a21c3948 EFLAGS: 00010282 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffffff82e6f880 RCX: 0000000000000027 RDX: ffff88885f99b5c8 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffff88885f99b5c0 RBP: 0000000000000028 R08: ffff88887ffabaa8 R09: 0000000000000003 R10: ffff88887fecbac0 R11: ffff88887ff7bac0 R12: ffff8882a21c3968 R13: ffff88811c018940 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff8881274401a0 FS: 00007fe141c81800(0000) GS:ffff88885f980000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f787c28b948 CR3: 000000014bcf3005 CR4: 0000000000370ea0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn+0x79/0x120 ? call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7c/0x80 ? report_bug+0x17c/0x190 ? handle_bug+0x3c/0x60 ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x70 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 ? call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7c/0x80 ? call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7c/0x80 call_netdevice_notifiers+0x2e/0x50 mlx5e_set_xdp_feature+0x21/0x50 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_nic_init+0xf1/0x1a0 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_netdev_init_profile+0x76/0x110 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_netdev_attach_profile+0x1f/0x90 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_netdev_change_profile+0x92/0x160 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_netdev_attach_nic_profile+0x1b/0x30 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_vport_rep_unload+0xaa/0xc0 [mlx5_core] __esw_offloads_unload_rep+0x52/0x60 [mlx5_core] mlx5_esw_offloads_rep_unload+0x52/0x70 [mlx5_core] esw_offloads_unload_rep+0x34/0x70 [mlx5_core] esw_offloads_disable+0x2b/0x90 [mlx5_core] mlx5_eswitch_disable_locked+0x1b9/0x210 [mlx5_core] mlx5_devlink_eswitch_mode_set+0xf5/0x630 [mlx5_core] ? devlink_get_from_attrs_lock+0x9e/0x110 devlink_nl_cmd_eswitch_set_doit+0x60/0xe0 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0xc2/0x110 genl_rcv_msg+0x17d/0x2b0 ? devlink_get_from_attrs_lock+0x110/0x110 ? devlink_nl_cmd_eswitch_get_doit+0x290/0x290 ? devlink_pernet_pre_exit+0xf0/0xf0 ? genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0x110/0x110 netlink_rcv_skb+0x54/0x100 genl_rcv+0x24/0x40 netlink_unicast+0x1f6/0x2c0 netlink_sendmsg+0x232/0x4a0 sock_sendmsg+0x38/0x60 ? _copy_from_user+0x2a/0x60 __sys_sendto+0x110/0x160 ? __count_memcg_events+0x48/0x90 ? handle_mm_fault+0x161/0x260 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x278/0x6e0 __x64_sys_sendto+0x20/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 RIP: 0033 ---truncated---

Published: 2025-10-07 Last update: 2026-02-03 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-53632 is rated Low Risk (24.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.16%). 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-2023-53632

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 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.16% +0.15%
2 2025-10-08 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53632

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-2023-53632

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53632

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-53632 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-2023-53632
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53632
suse medium CVE-2023-53632 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-2023-53632/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53632 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-2023-53632

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53632

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.3.1, < 6.4.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53632

cvelogic Threat Intelligence