CVE-2023-53525 RDMA/cma: Allow UD qp_type to join multicast only

Medium 5.5 Published 1 Oct 2025 Updated 23 May 2026

A local attacker can trigger an uninitialized memory read in the Linux kernel RDMA multicast handling, potentially disclosing sensitive kernel memory.

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-2023-53525?

CVE-2023-53525 is a medium-severity 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:

RDMA/cma: Allow UD qp_type to join multicast only

As for multicast: - The SIDR is the only mode that makes sense; - Besides PS_UDP, other port spaces like PS_IB is also allowed, as it is UD compatible. In this case qkey also needs to be set [1].

This patch allows only UD qp_type to join multicast, and set qkey to default if it's not set, to fix an uninit-value error: the ib->rec.qkey field is accessed without being initialized.

===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in cma_set_qkey drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:510 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in cma_make_mc_event+0xb73/0xe00 drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:4570 cma_set_qkey drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:510 [inline] cma_make_mc_event+0xb73/0xe00 drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:4570 cma_iboe_join_multicast drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:4782 [inline] rdma_join_multicast+0x2b83/0x30a0 drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:4814 ucma_process_join+0xa76/0xf60 drivers/infiniband/core/ucma.c:1479 ucma_join_multicast+0x1e3/0x250 drivers/infiniband/core/ucma.c:1546 ucma_write+0x639/0x6d0 drivers/infiniband/core/ucma.c:1732 vfs_write+0x8ce/0x2030 fs/read_write.c:588 ksys_write+0x28c/0x520 fs/read_write.c:643 __do_sys_write fs/read_write.c:655 [inline] __se_sys_write fs/read_write.c:652 [inline] __ia32_sys_write+0xdb/0x120 fs/read_write.c:652 do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:114 [inline] __do_fast_syscall_32+0x96/0xf0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:180 do_fast_syscall_32+0x34/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:205 do_SYSENTER_32+0x1b/0x20 arch/x86/entry/common.c:248 entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x4d/0x5c

Local variable ib.i created at: cma_iboe_join_multicast drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:4737 [inline] rdma_join_multicast+0x586/0x30a0 drivers/infiniband/core/cma.c:4814 ucma_process_join+0xa76/0xf60 drivers/infiniband/core/ucma.c:1479

CPU: 0 PID: 29874 Comm: syz-executor.3 Not tainted 5.16.0-rc3-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 =====================================================

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/[email protected]/

Weakness: CWE-908

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53525?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53525?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-53525 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53525 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53525, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53525, GHSA-9px7-88w4-86hp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53525.