CVE-2023-53315 wifi: ath11k: Fix SKB corruption in REO destination ring
A memory corruption flaw in the ath11k WiFi driver causes kernel crashes when processing invalid RX descriptors, leading to denial of service.
- 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-2023-53315?
CVE-2023-53315 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 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: ath11k: Fix SKB corruption in REO destination ring
While running traffics for a long time, randomly an RX descriptor filled with value "0" from REO destination ring is received. This descriptor which is invalid causes the wrong SKB (SKB stored in the IDR lookup with buffer id "0") to be fetched which in turn causes SKB memory corruption issue and the same leads to crash after some time.
Changed the start id for idr allocation to "1" and the buffer id "0" is reserved for error validation. Introduced Sanity check to validate the descriptor, before processing the SKB.
Crash Signature :
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 3f004900 PC points to "b15_dma_inv_range+0x30/0x50" LR points to "dma_cache_maint_page+0x8c/0x128". The Backtrace obtained is as follows: [<8031716c>] (b15_dma_inv_range) from [<80313a4c>] (dma_cache_maint_page+0x8c/0x128) [<80313a4c>] (dma_cache_maint_page) from [<80313b90>] (__dma_page_dev_to_cpu+0x28/0xcc) [<80313b90>] (__dma_page_dev_to_cpu) from [<7fb5dd68>] (ath11k_dp_process_rx+0x1e8/0x4a4 [ath11k]) [<7fb5dd68>] (ath11k_dp_process_rx [ath11k]) from [<7fb53c20>] (ath11k_dp_service_srng+0xb0/0x2ac [ath11k]) [<7fb53c20>] (ath11k_dp_service_srng [ath11k]) from [<7f67bba4>] (ath11k_pci_ext_grp_napi_poll+0x1c/0x78 [ath11k_pci]) [<7f67bba4>] (ath11k_pci_ext_grp_napi_poll [ath11k_pci]) from [<807d5cf4>] (__napi_poll+0x28/0xb8) [<807d5cf4>] (__napi_poll) from [<807d5f28>] (net_rx_action+0xf0/0x280) [<807d5f28>] (net_rx_action) from [<80302148>] (__do_softirq+0xd0/0x280) [<80302148>] (__do_softirq) from [<80320408>] (irq_exit+0x74/0xd4) [<80320408>] (irq_exit) from [<803638a4>] (__handle_domain_irq+0x90/0xb4) [<803638a4>] (__handle_domain_irq) from [<805bedec>] (gic_handle_irq+0x58/0x90) [<805bedec>] (gic_handle_irq) from [<80301a78>] (__irq_svc+0x58/0x8c)
Tested-on: IPQ8074 hw2.0 AHB WLAN.HK.2.7.0.1-01744-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53315?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53315?
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-2023-53315 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53315 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53315, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53315, GHSA-fv7c-cvj6-wrfg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53315.