CVE-2023-53642 | x86: fix clear_user_rep_good() exception handling annotation

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86: fix clear_user_rep_good() exception handling annotation This code no longer exists in mainline, because it was removed in commit d2c95f9d6802 ("x86: don't use REP_GOOD or ERMS for user memory clearing") upstream. However, rather than backport the full range of x86 memory clearing and copying cleanups, fix the exception table annotation placement for the final 'rep movsb' in clear_user_rep_good(): rather than pointing at the actual instruction that did the user space access, it pointed to the register move just before it. That made sense from a code flow standpoint, but not from an actual usage standpoint: it means that if user access takes an exception, the exception handler won't actually find the instruction in the exception tables. As a result, rather than fixing it up and returning -EFAULT, it would then turn it into a kernel oops report instead, something like: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000020081000 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page ... RIP: 0010:clear_user_rep_good+0x1c/0x30 arch/x86/lib/clear_page_64.S:147 ... Call Trace: __clear_user arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess_64.h:103 [inline] clear_user arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess_64.h:124 [inline] iov_iter_zero+0x709/0x1290 lib/iov_iter.c:800 iomap_dio_hole_iter fs/iomap/direct-io.c:389 [inline] iomap_dio_iter fs/iomap/direct-io.c:440 [inline] __iomap_dio_rw+0xe3d/0x1cd0 fs/iomap/direct-io.c:601 iomap_dio_rw+0x40/0xa0 fs/iomap/direct-io.c:689 ext4_dio_read_iter fs/ext4/file.c:94 [inline] ext4_file_read_iter+0x4be/0x690 fs/ext4/file.c:145 call_read_iter include/linux/fs.h:2183 [inline] do_iter_readv_writev+0x2e0/0x3b0 fs/read_write.c:733 do_iter_read+0x2f2/0x750 fs/read_write.c:796 vfs_readv+0xe5/0x150 fs/read_write.c:916 do_preadv+0x1b6/0x270 fs/read_write.c:1008 __do_sys_preadv2 fs/read_write.c:1070 [inline] __se_sys_preadv2 fs/read_write.c:1061 [inline] __x64_sys_preadv2+0xef/0x150 fs/read_write.c:1061 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd which then looks like a filesystem bug rather than the incorrect exception annotation that it is. [ The alternative to this one-liner fix is to take the upstream series that cleans this all up: 68674f94ffc9 ("x86: don't use REP_GOOD or ERMS for small memory copies") 20f3337d350c ("x86: don't use REP_GOOD or ERMS for small memory clearing") adfcf4231b8c ("x86: don't use REP_GOOD or ERMS for user memory copies") * d2c95f9d6802 ("x86: don't use REP_GOOD or ERMS for user memory clearing") 3639a535587d ("x86: move stac/clac from user copy routines into callers") 577e6a7fd50d ("x86: inline the 'rep movs' in user copies for the FSRM case") 8c9b6a88b7e2 ("x86: improve on the non-rep 'clear_user' function") 427fda2c8a49 ("x86: improve on the non-rep 'copy_user' function") * e046fe5a36a9 ("x86: set FSRS automatically on AMD CPUs that have FSRM") e1f2750edc4a ("x86: remove 'zerorest' argument from __copy_user_nocache()") 034ff37d3407 ("x86: rewrite '__copy_user_nocache' function") with either the whole series or at a minimum the two marked commits being needed to fix this issue ]

Published: 2025-10-07 Last update: 2026-02-03 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53642 is rated Low Risk (23.2/100): 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-2023-53642

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 2025-10-08 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53642

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-2023-53642

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53642

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-53642 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-2023-53642
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53642
suse medium CVE-2023-53642 severity moderate: 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-2023-53642/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53642 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 176, needed 142, not-affected 79. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53642

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53642

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.29 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.2.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.3, < 6.3.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53642

cvelogic Threat Intelligence