CVE-2023-53213 wifi: brcmfmac: slab-out-of-bounds read in brcmf_get_assoc_ies()

High 8.1 Published Updated

A slab-out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel brcmfmac Wi-Fi driver allows attackers to cause denial of service or disclose memory via crafted USB data.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Not needed
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
Available

What is CVE-2023-53213?

CVE-2023-53213 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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:

wifi: brcmfmac: slab-out-of-bounds read in brcmf_get_assoc_ies()

Fix a slab-out-of-bounds read that occurs in kmemdup() called from brcmf_get_assoc_ies(). The bug could occur when assoc_info->req_len, data from a URB provided by a USB device, is bigger than the size of buffer which is defined as WL_EXTRA_BUF_MAX.

Add the size check for req_len/resp_len of assoc_info.

Found by a modified version of syzkaller.

[ 46.592467][ T7] ================================================================== [ 46.594687][ T7] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in kmemdup+0x3e/0x50 [ 46.596572][ T7] Read of size 3014656 at addr ffff888019442000 by task kworker/0:1/7 [ 46.598575][ T7] [ 46.599157][ T7] CPU: 0 PID: 7 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G O 5.14.0+ #145 [ 46.601333][ T7] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.12.1-0-ga5cab58e9a3f-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 46.604360][ T7] Workqueue: events brcmf_fweh_event_worker [ 46.605943][ T7] Call Trace: [ 46.606584][ T7] dump_stack_lvl+0x8e/0xd1 [ 46.607446][ T7] print_address_description.constprop.0.cold+0x93/0x334 [ 46.608610][ T7] ? kmemdup+0x3e/0x50 [ 46.609341][ T7] kasan_report.cold+0x79/0xd5 [ 46.610151][ T7] ? kmemdup+0x3e/0x50 [ 46.610796][ T7] kasan_check_range+0x14e/0x1b0 [ 46.611691][ T7] memcpy+0x20/0x60 [ 46.612323][ T7] kmemdup+0x3e/0x50 [ 46.612987][ T7] brcmf_get_assoc_ies+0x967/0xf60 [ 46.613904][ T7] ? brcmf_notify_vif_event+0x3d0/0x3d0 [ 46.614831][ T7] ? lock_chain_count+0x20/0x20 [ 46.615683][ T7] ? mark_lock.part.0+0xfc/0x2770 [ 46.616552][ T7] ? lock_chain_count+0x20/0x20 [ 46.617409][ T7] ? mark_lock.part.0+0xfc/0x2770 [ 46.618244][ T7] ? lock_chain_count+0x20/0x20 [ 46.619024][ T7] brcmf_bss_connect_done.constprop.0+0x241/0x2e0 [ 46.620019][ T7] ? brcmf_parse_configure_security.isra.0+0x2a0/0x2a0 [ 46.620818][ T7] ? __lock_acquire+0x181f/0x5790 [ 46.621462][ T7] brcmf_notify_connect_status+0x448/0x1950 [ 46.622134][ T7] ? rcu_read_lock_bh_held+0xb0/0xb0 [ 46.622736][ T7] ? brcmf_cfg80211_join_ibss+0x7b0/0x7b0 [ 46.623390][ T7] ? find_held_lock+0x2d/0x110 [ 46.623962][ T7] ? brcmf_fweh_event_worker+0x19f/0xc60 [ 46.624603][ T7] ? mark_held_locks+0x9f/0xe0 [ 46.625145][ T7] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x3e0/0x3e0 [ 46.625871][ T7] ? brcmf_cfg80211_join_ibss+0x7b0/0x7b0 [ 46.626545][ T7] brcmf_fweh_call_event_handler.isra.0+0x90/0x100 [ 46.627338][ T7] brcmf_fweh_event_worker+0x557/0xc60 [ 46.627962][ T7] ? brcmf_fweh_call_event_handler.isra.0+0x100/0x100 [ 46.628736][ T7] ? rcu_read_lock_sched_held+0xa1/0xd0 [ 46.629396][ T7] ? rcu_read_lock_bh_held+0xb0/0xb0 [ 46.629970][ T7] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x273/0x3e0 [ 46.630649][ T7] process_one_work+0x92b/0x1460 [ 46.631205][ T7] ? pwq_dec_nr_in_flight+0x330/0x330 [ 46.631821][ T7] ? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90 [ 46.632347][ T7] worker_thread+0x95/0xe00 [ 46.632832][ T7] ? __kthread_parkme+0x115/0x1e0 [ 46.633393][ T7] ? process_one_work+0x1460/0x1460 [ 46.633957][ T7] kthread+0x3a1/0x480 [ 46.634369][ T7] ? set_kthread_struct+0x120/0x120 [ 46.634933][ T7] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 [ 46.635431][ T7] [ 46.635687][ T7] Allocated by task 7: [ 46.636151][ T7] kasan_save_stack+0x1b/0x40 [ 46.636628][ T7] __kasan_kmalloc+0x7c/0x90 [ 46.637108][ T7] kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x19e/0x330 [ 46.637696][ T7] brcmf_cfg80211_attach+0x4a0/0x4040 [ 46.638275][ T7] brcmf_attach+0x389/0xd40 [ 46.638739][ T7] brcmf_usb_probe+0x12de/0x1690 [ 46.639279][ T7] usb_probe_interface+0x2aa/0x760 [ 46.639820][ T7] really_probe+0x205/0xb70 [ 46.640342][ T7] __driver_probe_device+0 ---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-125

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53213?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53213?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2023-53213 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53213 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53213, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53213, GHSA-fq2q-2mv8-c2mg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53213.

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