# CVE-2023-53487: powerpc/rtas_flash: allow user copy to flash block cache objects

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash via the firmware update interface when hardened usercopy is enabled, causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53487, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53487, GHSA-hpjg-565w-prfp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53487

## What is CVE-2023-53487?

CVE-2023-53487 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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:

powerpc/rtas_flash: allow user copy to flash block cache objects

With hardened usercopy enabled (CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY=y), using the
/proc/powerpc/rtas/firmware_update interface to prepare a system
firmware update yields a BUG():

  kernel BUG at mm/usercopy.c:102!
  Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1]
  LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries
  Modules linked in:
  CPU: 0 PID: 2232 Comm: dd Not tainted 6.5.0-rc3+ #2
  Hardware name: IBM,8408-E8E POWER8E (raw) 0x4b0201 0xf000004 of:IBM,FW860.50 (SV860_146) hv:phyp pSeries
  NIP:  c0000000005991d0 LR: c0000000005991cc CTR: 0000000000000000
  REGS: c0000000148c76a0 TRAP: 0700   Not tainted  (6.5.0-rc3+)
  MSR:  8000000000029033 <SF,EE,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE>  CR: 24002242  XER: 0000000c
  CFAR: c0000000001fbd34 IRQMASK: 0
  [ ... GPRs omitted ... ]
  NIP usercopy_abort+0xa0/0xb0
  LR  usercopy_abort+0x9c/0xb0
  Call Trace:
    usercopy_abort+0x9c/0xb0 (unreliable)
    __check_heap_object+0x1b4/0x1d0
    __check_object_size+0x2d0/0x380
    rtas_flash_write+0xe4/0x250
    proc_reg_write+0xfc/0x160
    vfs_write+0xfc/0x4e0
    ksys_write+0x90/0x160
    system_call_exception+0x178/0x320
    system_call_common+0x160/0x2c4

The blocks of the firmware image are copied directly from user memory
to objects allocated from flash_block_cache, so flash_block_cache must
be created using kmem_cache_create_usercopy() to mark it safe for user
access.

[mpe: Trim and indent oops]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53487?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53487?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53487 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53487 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53487 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53487 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53487 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53487/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53487/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53487
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53487
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53487

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53487/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.