CVE-2023-53393 RDMA/mlx5: Fix mlx5_ib_get_hw_stats when used for device
A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel RDMA mlx5 driver causes a system crash when retrieving hardware stats for a device.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-53393?
CVE-2023-53393 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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:
RDMA/mlx5: Fix mlx5_ib_get_hw_stats when used for device
Currently, when mlx5_ib_get_hw_stats() is used for device (port_num = 0), there is a special handling in order to use the correct counters, but, port_num is being passed down the stack without any change. Also, some functions assume that port_num >=1. As a result, the following oops can occur.
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffff89510294f1a8 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP CPU: 8 PID: 1382 Comm: devlink Tainted: G W 6.1.0-rc4_for_upstream_base_2022_11_10_16_12 #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_lock+0xc/0x20 Call Trace: <TASK> mlx5_ib_get_native_port_mdev+0x73/0xe0 [mlx5_ib] do_get_hw_stats.constprop.0+0x109/0x160 [mlx5_ib] mlx5_ib_get_hw_stats+0xad/0x180 [mlx5_ib] ib_setup_device_attrs+0xf0/0x290 [ib_core] ib_register_device+0x3bb/0x510 [ib_core] ? atomic_notifier_chain_register+0x67/0x80 __mlx5_ib_add+0x2b/0x80 [mlx5_ib] mlx5r_probe+0xb8/0x150 [mlx5_ib] ? auxiliary_match_id+0x6a/0x90 auxiliary_bus_probe+0x3c/0x70 ? driver_sysfs_add+0x6b/0x90 really_probe+0xcd/0x380 __driver_probe_device+0x80/0x170 driver_probe_device+0x1e/0x90 __device_attach_driver+0x7d/0x100 ? driver_allows_async_probing+0x60/0x60 ? driver_allows_async_probing+0x60/0x60 bus_for_each_drv+0x7b/0xc0 __device_attach+0xbc/0x200 bus_probe_device+0x87/0xa0 device_add+0x404/0x940 ? dev_set_name+0x53/0x70 __auxiliary_device_add+0x43/0x60 add_adev+0x99/0xe0 [mlx5_core] mlx5_attach_device+0xc8/0x120 [mlx5_core] mlx5_load_one_devl_locked+0xb2/0xe0 [mlx5_core] devlink_reload+0x133/0x250 devlink_nl_cmd_reload+0x480/0x570 ? devlink_nl_pre_doit+0x44/0x2b0 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0xc2/0x110 genl_rcv_msg+0x180/0x2b0 ? devlink_nl_cmd_region_read_dumpit+0x540/0x540 ? devlink_reload+0x250/0x250 ? devlink_put+0x50/0x50 ? genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0x110/0x110 netlink_rcv_skb+0x54/0x100 genl_rcv+0x24/0x40 netlink_unicast+0x1f6/0x2c0 netlink_sendmsg+0x237/0x490 sock_sendmsg+0x33/0x40 __sys_sendto+0x103/0x160 ? handle_mm_fault+0x10e/0x290 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x1c0/0x5f0 __x64_sys_sendto+0x25/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0
Fix it by setting port_num to 1 in order to get device status and remove unused variable.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53393?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53393?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53393 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53393 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53393, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53393, GHSA-2633-6xpw-2gqx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53393, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53393.