# CVE-2023-53548: net: usbnet: Fix WARNING in usbnet_start_xmit/usb_submit_urb

> A missing validation in the Linux kernel usbnet driver allows a local attacker to trigger a kernel warning and potential denial of service via crafted USB traffic.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53548, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53548, GHSA-3789-628f-hmx4, OESA-2026-1762, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53548

## What is CVE-2023-53548?

CVE-2023-53548 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

net: usbnet: Fix WARNING in usbnet_start_xmit/usb_submit_urb

The syzbot fuzzer identified a problem in the usbnet driver:

usb 1-1: BOGUS urb xfer, pipe 3 != type 1
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 754 at drivers/usb/core/urb.c:504 usb_submit_urb+0xed6/0x1880 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:504
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 754 Comm: kworker/0:2 Not tainted 6.4.0-rc7-syzkaller-00014-g692b7dc87ca6 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/27/2023
Workqueue: mld mld_ifc_work
RIP: 0010:usb_submit_urb+0xed6/0x1880 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:504
Code: 7c 24 18 e8 2c b4 5b fb 48 8b 7c 24 18 e8 42 07 f0 fe 41 89 d8 44 89 e1 4c 89 ea 48 89 c6 48 c7 c7 a0 c9 fc 8a e8 5a 6f 23 fb <0f> 0b e9 58 f8 ff ff e8 fe b3 5b fb 48 81 c5 c0 05 00 00 e9 84 f7
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000463f568 EFLAGS: 00010086
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000001 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: ffff88801eb28000 RSI: ffffffff814c03b7 RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: ffff8881443b7190 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000000003
R13: ffff88802a77cb18 R14: 0000000000000003 R15: ffff888018262500
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000556a99c15a18 CR3: 0000000028c71000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 usbnet_start_xmit+0xfe5/0x2190 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:1453
 __netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4918 [inline]
 netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4932 [inline]
 xmit_one net/core/dev.c:3578 [inline]
 dev_hard_start_xmit+0x187/0x700 net/core/dev.c:3594
...

This bug is caused by the fact that usbnet trusts the bulk endpoint
addresses its probe routine receives in the driver_info structure, and
it does not check to see that these endpoints actually exist and have
the expected type and directions.

The fix is simply to add such a check.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53548?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53548?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53548 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53548 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-2023-53548 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53548 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2023-53548 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-2023-53548/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53548/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53548
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53548
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53548

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53548/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.