CVE-2023-52505 phy: lynx-28g: serialize concurrent phy_set_mode_ext() calls to shared registers

What is CVE-2023-52505?

CVE-2023-52505 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

phy: lynx-28g: serialize concurrent phy_set_mode_ext() calls to shared registers

The protocol converter configuration registers PCC8, PCCC, PCCD (implemented by the driver), as well as others, control protocol converters from multiple lanes (each represented as a different struct phy). So, if there are simultaneous calls to phy_set_mode_ext() to lanes sharing the same PCC register (either for the "old" or for the "new" protocol), corruption of the values programmed to hardware is possible, because lynx_28g_rmw() has no locking.

Add a spinlock in the struct lynx_28g_priv shared by all lanes, and take the global spinlock from the phy_ops :: set_mode() implementation. There are no other callers which modify PCC registers.

Weakness: CWE-667

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52505?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-52505?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-52505 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52505 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-52505, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52505, GHSA-mx24-9c8c-52xx, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52505.