CVE-2023-52742
Linux Kernel 2.6.14 – 4.14.306
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-52742 is a medium-severity Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation (CWE-670) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked at the 15th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-59461
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: USB: Fix wrong-direction WARNING in plusb.c The syzbot fuzzer detected a bug in the plusb network driver: A zero-length control-OUT transfer was treated as a read instead of a…
more
write. In modern kernels this error provokes a WARNING: usb 1-1: BOGUS control dir, pipe 80000280 doesn't match bRequestType c0 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 4645 at drivers/usb/core/urb.c:411 usb_submit_urb+0x14a7/0x1880 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:411 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 4645 Comm: dhcpcd Not tainted 6.2.0-rc6-syzkaller-00050-g9f266ccaa2f5 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/12/2023 RIP: 0010:usb_submit_urb+0x14a7/0x1880 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:411 ... Call Trace: <TASK> usb_start_wait_urb+0x101/0x4b0 drivers/usb/core/message.c:58 usb_internal_control_msg drivers/usb/core/message.c:102 [inline] usb_control_msg+0x320/0x4a0 drivers/usb/core/message.c:153 __usbnet_read_cmd+0xb9/0x390 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:2010 usbnet_read_cmd+0x96/0xf0 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:2068 pl_vendor_req drivers/net/usb/plusb.c:60 [inline] pl_set_QuickLink_features drivers/net/usb/plusb.c:75 [inline] pl_reset+0x2f/0xf0 drivers/net/usb/plusb.c:85 usbnet_open+0xcc/0x5d0 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:889 __dev_open+0x297/0x4d0 net/core/dev.c:1417 __dev_change_flags+0x587/0x750 net/core/dev.c:8530 dev_change_flags+0x97/0x170 net/core/dev.c:8602 devinet_ioctl+0x15a2/0x1d70 net/ipv4/devinet.c:1147 inet_ioctl+0x33f/0x380 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:979 sock_do_ioctl+0xcc/0x230 net/socket.c:1169 sock_ioctl+0x1f8/0x680 net/socket.c:1286 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x197/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd The fix is to call usbnet_write_cmd() instead of usbnet_read_cmd() and remove the USB_DIR_IN flag.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation at post-design stages directly exercises control-flow paths and reveals mismatches between implemented and intended behavior.
Requiring a documented development process and supporting tools reduces the chance that incorrect control-flow logic is introduced in the first place.
Flaw identification and remediation processes can locate and correct control-flow errors once they manifest as incorrect runtime behavior.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
A.8.25 mandates an SDLC process that includes security requirements, checkpoints, secure coding guidelines, testing and developer training, which reaches a slice of control-flow defects but leaves most implementation bugs untouched without perfect enforcement at every checkpoint.
Secure coding standards and reviews directly target flawed control-flow implementations.
Security testing in development and acceptance can detect paths that deviate from intended logic.
A.8.32 mandates a formal process for planning, authorizing, testing and documenting changes but does not itself inspect, correct or block the incorrect control-flow logic that CWE-670 describes; the defect can still be introduced and exploited if the developer writes it and the process accepts it.
Hardening callouts derived
DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.
- No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-670, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.