CVE-2023-53665 md: don't dereference mddev after export_rdev()

What is CVE-2023-53665?

CVE-2023-53665 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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:

md: don't dereference mddev after export_rdev()

Except for initial reference, mddev->kobject is referenced by rdev->kobject, and if the last rdev is freed, there is no guarantee that mddev is still valid. Hence mddev should not be used anymore after export_rdev().

This problem can be triggered by following test for mdadm at very low rate:

New file: mdadm/tests/23rdev-lifetime

devname=${dev0##*/} devt=`cat /sys/block/$devname/dev` pid="" runtime=2

clean_up_test() { pill -9 $pid echo clear > /sys/block/md0/md/array_state }

trap 'clean_up_test' EXIT

add_by_sysfs() { while true; do echo $devt > /sys/block/md0/md/new_dev done }

remove_by_sysfs(){ while true; do echo remove > /sys/block/md0/md/dev-${devname}/state done }

echo md0 > /sys/module/md_mod/parameters/new_array || die "create md0 failed"

add_by_sysfs & pid="$pid $!"

remove_by_sysfs & pid="$pid $!"

sleep $runtime exit 0

Test cmd:

./test --save-logs --logdir=/tmp/ --keep-going --dev=loop --tests=23rdev-lifetime

Test result:

general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0x6b6b6b6b6b6b6bcb: 0000 [#4] PREEMPT SMP CPU: 0 PID: 1292 Comm: test Tainted: G D W 6.5.0-rc2-00121-g01e55c376936 #562 RIP: 0010:md_wakeup_thread+0x9e/0x320 [md_mod] Call Trace: <TASK> mddev_unlock+0x1b6/0x310 [md_mod] rdev_attr_store+0xec/0x190 [md_mod] sysfs_kf_write+0x52/0x70 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x19a/0x2a0 vfs_write+0x3b5/0x770 ksys_write+0x74/0x150 __x64_sys_write+0x22/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x40/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Fix this problem by don't dereference mddev after export_rdev().

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53665?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53665?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2023-53665 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53665 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53665, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53665, GHSA-3wc5-j3q5-m2xc, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53665.