CVE-2023-53016 Bluetooth: Fix possible deadlock in rfcomm_sk_state_change

What is CVE-2023-53016?

CVE-2023-53016 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. 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:

Bluetooth: Fix possible deadlock in rfcomm_sk_state_change

syzbot reports a possible deadlock in rfcomm_sk_state_change [1]. While rfcomm_sock_connect acquires the sk lock and waits for the rfcomm lock, rfcomm_sock_release could have the rfcomm lock and hit a deadlock for acquiring the sk lock. Here's a simplified flow:

rfcomm_sock_connect: lock_sock(sk) rfcomm_dlc_open: rfcomm_lock()

rfcomm_sock_release: rfcomm_sock_shutdown: rfcomm_lock() __rfcomm_dlc_close: rfcomm_k_state_change: lock_sock(sk)

This patch drops the sk lock before calling rfcomm_dlc_open to avoid the possible deadlock and holds sk's reference count to prevent use-after-free after rfcomm_dlc_open completes.

Weakness: CWE-416, CWE-667

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53016?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53016?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-53016 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53016 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-2023-53016, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53016, GHSA-7rcp-78xx-6fqm, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53016.