# CVE-2023-53706: mm/vmemmap/devdax: fix kernel crash when probing devdax devices > A kernel crash occurs when probing devdax devices on specific architectures due to incorrect vmemmap handling, leading to denial of service. - **Severity:** Not scored - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Local or same network only - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 22 Oct 2025 - **Updated:** 23 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53706, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53706, GHSA-6xfg-j7h4-rj4m, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2023-53706, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53706 ## What is CVE-2023-53706? CVE-2023-53706 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 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: mm/vmemmap/devdax: fix kernel crash when probing devdax devices commit 4917f55b4ef9 ("mm/sparse-vmemmap: improve memory savings for compound devmaps") added support for using optimized vmmemap for devdax devices. But how vmemmap mappings are created are architecture specific. For example, powerpc with hash translation doesn't have vmemmap mappings in init_mm page table instead they are bolted table entries in the hardware page table vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() used by vmemmap optimization code is not aware of these architecture-specific mapping. Hence allow architecture to opt for this feature. I selected architectures supporting HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP option as also supporting this feature. This patch fixes the below crash on ppc64. BUG: Unable to handle kernel data access on write at 0xc00c000100400038 Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000001269d90 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries Modules linked in: CPU: 7 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc5-150500.34-default+ #2 5c90a668b6bbd142599890245c2fb5de19d7d28a Hardware name: IBM,9009-42G POWER9 (raw) 0x4e0202 0xf000005 of:IBM,FW950.40 (VL950_099) hv:phyp pSeries NIP: c000000001269d90 LR: c0000000004c57d4 CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c000000003632c30 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (6.3.0-rc5-150500.34-default+) MSR: 8000000000009033 CR: 24842228 XER: 00000000 CFAR: c0000000004c57d0 DAR: c00c000100400038 DSISR: 42000000 IRQMASK: 0 .... NIP [c000000001269d90] __init_single_page.isra.74+0x14/0x4c LR [c0000000004c57d4] __init_zone_device_page+0x44/0xd0 Call Trace: [c000000003632ed0] [c000000003632f60] 0xc000000003632f60 (unreliable) [c000000003632f10] [c0000000004c5ca0] memmap_init_zone_device+0x170/0x250 [c000000003632fe0] [c0000000005575f8] memremap_pages+0x2c8/0x7f0 [c0000000036330c0] [c000000000557b5c] devm_memremap_pages+0x3c/0xa0 [c000000003633100] [c000000000d458a8] dev_dax_probe+0x108/0x3e0 [c0000000036331a0] [c000000000d41430] dax_bus_probe+0xb0/0x140 [c0000000036331d0] [c000000000cef27c] really_probe+0x19c/0x520 [c000000003633260] [c000000000cef6b4] __driver_probe_device+0xb4/0x230 [c0000000036332e0] [c000000000cef888] driver_probe_device+0x58/0x120 [c000000003633320] [c000000000cefa6c] __device_attach_driver+0x11c/0x1e0 [c0000000036333a0] [c000000000cebc58] bus_for_each_drv+0xa8/0x130 [c000000003633400] [c000000000ceefcc] __device_attach+0x15c/0x250 [c0000000036334a0] [c000000000ced458] bus_probe_device+0x108/0x110 [c0000000036334f0] [c000000000ce92dc] device_add+0x7fc/0xa10 [c0000000036335b0] [c000000000d447c8] devm_create_dev_dax+0x1d8/0x530 [c000000003633640] [c000000000d46b60] __dax_pmem_probe+0x200/0x270 [c0000000036337b0] [c000000000d46bf0] dax_pmem_probe+0x20/0x70 [c0000000036337d0] [c000000000d2279c] nvdimm_bus_probe+0xac/0x2b0 [c000000003633860] [c000000000cef27c] really_probe+0x19c/0x520 [c0000000036338f0] [c000000000cef6b4] __driver_probe_device+0xb4/0x230 [c000000003633970] [c000000000cef888] driver_probe_device+0x58/0x120 [c0000000036339b0] [c000000000cefd08] __driver_attach+0x1d8/0x240 [c000000003633a30] [c000000000cebb04] bus_for_each_dev+0xb4/0x130 [c000000003633a90] [c000000000cee564] driver_attach+0x34/0x50 [c000000003633ab0] [c000000000ced878] bus_add_driver+0x218/0x300 [c000000003633b40] [c000000000cf1144] driver_register+0xa4/0x1b0 [c000000003633bb0] [c000000000d21a0c] __nd_driver_register+0x5c/0x100 [c000000003633c10] [c00000000206a2e8] dax_pmem_init+0x34/0x48 [c000000003633c30] [c0000000000132d0] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x320 [c000000003633d00] [c0000000020051b0] kernel_init_freeable+0x360/0x400 [c000000003633de0] [c000000000013764] kernel_init+0x34/0x1d0 [c000000003633e50] [c00000000000de14] ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x64 ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53706? ## How do I fix CVE-2023-53706? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-53706 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53706 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53706 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-53706 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 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-2023-53706 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-53706/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53706/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53706 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53706 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53706 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53706/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.