CVE-2023-53756 | KVM: VMX: Fix crash due to uninitialized current_vmcs

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: VMX: Fix crash due to uninitialized current_vmcs KVM enables 'Enlightened VMCS' and 'Enlightened MSR Bitmap' when running as a nested hypervisor on top of Hyper-V. When MSR bitmap is updated, evmcs_touch_msr_bitmap function uses current_vmcs per-cpu variable to mark that the msr bitmap was changed. vmx_vcpu_create() modifies the msr bitmap via vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr -> vmx_msr_bitmap_l01_changed which in the end calls this function. The function checks for current_vmcs if it is null but the check is insufficient because current_vmcs is not initialized. Because of this, the code might incorrectly write to the structure pointed by current_vmcs value left by another task. Preemption is not disabled, the current task can be preempted and moved to another CPU while current_vmcs is accessed multiple times from evmcs_touch_msr_bitmap() which leads to crash. The manipulation of MSR bitmaps by callers happens only for vmcs01 so the solution is to use vmx->vmcs01.vmcs instead of current_vmcs. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000338 PGD 4e1775067 P4D 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI ... RIP: 0010:vmx_msr_bitmap_l01_changed+0x39/0x50 [kvm_intel] ... Call Trace: vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr+0x36/0x260 [kvm_intel] vmx_vcpu_create+0xe6/0x540 [kvm_intel] kvm_arch_vcpu_create+0x1d1/0x2e0 [kvm] kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu+0x178/0x430 [kvm] kvm_vm_ioctl+0x53f/0x790 [kvm] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x8a/0xc0 do_syscall_64+0x5c/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Published: 2025-12-08 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53756 is rated Low Risk (3.8/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2023-53756

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 2025-12-08 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53756

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53756

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53756

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53756 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-2023-53756
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53756
suse medium CVE-2023-53756 severity moderate: SUSE including 52 source package names (bpftool-7.2.0-362.8.1.el9_3, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 179 product×package rows across 32 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 9, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6, … (32 product lines)): Known Not Affected 150, Fixed 29. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53756/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53756 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 172, released 112, not-affected 88, needed 22, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53756

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53756

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2023-53756

cvelogic Threat Intelligence