CVE-2023-53487

High

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/rtas_flash: allow user copy to flash block cache objects With hardened usercopy enabled (CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY=y), using the /proc/powerpc/rtas/firmware_update interface to prepare a system firmware update yields a BUG(): kernel BUG at mm/usercopy.c:102! Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 2232 Comm: dd Not tainted 6.5.0-rc3+ #2 Hardware name: IBM,8408-E8E POWER8E (raw) 0x4b0201 0xf000004 of:IBM,FW860.50 (SV860_146) hv:phyp pSeries NIP: c0000000005991d0 LR: c0000000005991cc CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c0000000148c76a0 TRAP: 0700 Not tainted (6.5.0-rc3+) MSR: 8000000000029033 <SF,EE,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 24002242 XER: 0000000c CFAR: c0000000001fbd34 IRQMASK: 0 [ ... GPRs omitted ... ] NIP usercopy_abort+0xa0/0xb0 LR usercopy_abort+0x9c/0xb0 Call Trace: usercopy_abort+0x9c/0xb0 (unreliable) __check_heap_object+0x1b4/0x1d0 __check_object_size+0x2d0/0x380 rtas_flash_write+0xe4/0x250 proc_reg_write+0xfc/0x160 vfs_write+0xfc/0x4e0 ksys_write+0x90/0x160 system_call_exception+0x178/0x320 system_call_common+0x160/0x2c4 The blocks of the firmware image are copied directly from user memory to objects allocated from flash_block_cache, so flash_block_cache must be created using kmem_cache_create_usercopy() to mark it safe for user access. [mpe: Trim and indent oops]

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-10-01
Last modified 2026-01-20
CVSS version 3.1
Patch available
Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

7.8

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

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.16 and later are affected. Fixed in 4.19.293, 5.4.255, 5.10.192, 5.15.128, 6.1.47, 6.4.12, 6.5 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 4.16
Fixed in
✓ 4.19.293 4.19.x ✓ 5.4.255 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.192 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.128 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.47 6.1.x ✓ 6.4.12 6.4.x ✓ 6.5

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2023-53487 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

7 patch commits total View all on NVD

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2023-53487?

    CVE-2023-53487 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.16 onward and has been patched in 4.19.293, 5.4.255, 5.10.192 and others. CVE-2023-53487 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53487?

    CVE-2023-53487 has a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H .

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53487?

    Yes — CVE-2023-53487 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.293, 5.4.255, 5.10.192 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2023-53487 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2023-53487 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

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