# CVE-2023-53539: RDMA/rxe: Fix incomplete state save in rxe_requester

> A flaw in the Linux kernel RDMA driver causes data corruption during packet retransmission due to incomplete state saving, potentially leading to data integrity issues.

- **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:** 4 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-77396, BELL-CVE-2023-53539, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53539, GHSA-v36f-cm3w-p7vq, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53539, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53539, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53539

## What is CVE-2023-53539?

CVE-2023-53539 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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/rxe: Fix incomplete state save in rxe_requester

If a send packet is dropped by the IP layer in rxe_requester()
the call to rxe_xmit_packet() can fail with err == -EAGAIN.
To recover, the state of the wqe is restored to the state before
the packet was sent so it can be resent. However, the routines
that save and restore the state miss a significnt part of the
variable state in the wqe, the dma struct which is used to process
through the sge table. And, the state is not saved before the packet
is built which modifies the dma struct.

Under heavy stress testing with many QPs on a fast node sending
large messages to a slow node dropped packets are observed and
the resent packets are corrupted because the dma struct was not
restored. This patch fixes this behavior and allows the test cases
to succeed.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53539?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53539?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53539 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53539 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-2023-53539 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53539 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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-2023-53539 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-2023-53539/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53539/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53539
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53539
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53539

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53539/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.