CVE-2023-53256

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firmware: arm_ffa: Fix FFA device names for logical partitions Each physical partition can provide multiple services each with UUID. Each such service can be presented as logical partition with a unique combination of VM ID and UUID. The number of distinct UUID in a system will be less than or equal to the number of logical partitions. However, currently it fails to register more than one logical partition or service within a physical partition as the device name contains only VM ID while both VM ID and UUID are maintained in the partition information. The kernel complains with the below message: | sysfs: cannot create duplicate filename '/devices/arm-ffa-8001' | CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc7 #8 | Hardware name: FVP Base RevC (DT) | Call trace: | dump_backtrace+0xf8/0x118 | show_stack+0x18/0x24 | dump_stack_lvl+0x50/0x68 | dump_stack+0x18/0x24 | sysfs_create_dir_ns+0xe0/0x13c | kobject_add_internal+0x220/0x3d4 | kobject_add+0x94/0x100 | device_add+0x144/0x5d8 | device_register+0x20/0x30 | ffa_device_register+0x88/0xd8 | ffa_setup_partitions+0x108/0x1b8 | ffa_init+0x2ec/0x3a4 | do_one_initcall+0xcc/0x240 | do_initcall_level+0x8c/0xac | do_initcalls+0x54/0x94 | do_basic_setup+0x1c/0x28 | kernel_init_freeable+0x100/0x16c | kernel_init+0x20/0x1a0 | ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 | kobject_add_internal failed for arm-ffa-8001 with -EEXIST, don't try to | register things with the same name in the same directory. | arm_ffa arm-ffa: unable to register device arm-ffa-8001 err=-17 | ARM FF-A: ffa_setup_partitions: failed to register partition ID 0x8001 By virtue of being random enough to avoid collisions when generated in a distributed system, there is no way to compress UUID keys to the number of bits required to identify each. We can eliminate '-' in the name but it is not worth eliminating 4 bytes and add unnecessary logic for doing that. Also v1.0 doesn't provide the UUID of the partitions which makes it hard to use the same for the device name. So to keep it simple, let us alloc an ID using ida_alloc() and append the same to "arm-ffa" to make up a unique device name. Also stash the id value in ffa_dev to help freeing the ID later when the device is destroyed.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-09-15
Last modified 2026-01-14
CVSS version 3.1
Patch available
Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10
Medium
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.14 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.15.114, 6.1.31, 6.3.5, 6.4 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 5.14
Fixed in
✓ 5.15.114 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.31 6.1.x ✓ 6.3.5 6.3.x ✓ 6.4

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2023-53256 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2023-53256?

    CVE-2023-53256 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.14 onward and has been patched in 5.15.114, 6.1.31, 6.3.5 and others. CVE-2023-53256 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53256?

    CVE-2023-53256 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N .

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53256?

    Yes — CVE-2023-53256 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.15.114, 6.1.31, 6.3.5 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.14 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2023-53256 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2023-53256 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.