Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-52797

Linux Kernel 5.18 – 6.5.13

Published
21 May 2024
Modified
26 September 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0028 20th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-52797 is a medium-severity Unchecked Return Value (CWE-252) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 20th 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.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drivers: perf: Check find_first_bit() return value We must check the return value of find_first_bit() before using the return value as an index array since it happens to overflow the array…

more

and then panic: [ 107.318430] Kernel BUG [#1] [ 107.319434] CPU: 3 PID: 1238 Comm: kill Tainted: G E 6.6.0-rc6ubuntu-defconfig #2 [ 107.319465] Hardware name: riscv-virtio,qemu (DT) [ 107.319551] epc : pmu_sbi_ovf_handler+0x3a4/0x3ae [ 107.319840] ra : pmu_sbi_ovf_handler+0x52/0x3ae [ 107.319868] epc : ffffffff80a0a77c ra : ffffffff80a0a42a sp : ffffaf83fecda350 [ 107.319884] gp : ffffffff823961a8 tp : ffffaf8083db1dc0 t0 : ffffaf83fecda480 [ 107.319899] t1 : ffffffff80cafe62 t2 : 000000000000ff00 s0 : ffffaf83fecda520 [ 107.319921] s1 : ffffaf83fecda380 a0 : 00000018fca29df0 a1 : ffffffffffffffff [ 107.319936] a2 : 0000000001073734 a3 : 0000000000000004 a4 : 0000000000000000 [ 107.319951] a5 : 0000000000000040 a6 : 000000001d1c8774 a7 : 0000000000504d55 [ 107.319965] s2 : ffffffff82451f10 s3 : ffffffff82724e70 s4 : 000000000000003f [ 107.319980] s5 : 0000000000000011 s6 : ffffaf8083db27c0 s7 : 0000000000000000 [ 107.319995] s8 : 0000000000000001 s9 : 00007fffb45d6558 s10: 00007fffb45d81a0 [ 107.320009] s11: ffffaf7ffff60000 t3 : 0000000000000004 t4 : 0000000000000000 [ 107.320023] t5 : ffffaf7f80000000 t6 : ffffaf8000000000 [ 107.320037] status: 0000000200000100 badaddr: 0000000000000000 cause: 0000000000000003 [ 107.320081] [<ffffffff80a0a77c>] pmu_sbi_ovf_handler+0x3a4/0x3ae [ 107.320112] [<ffffffff800b42d0>] handle_percpu_devid_irq+0x9e/0x1a0 [ 107.320131] [<ffffffff800ad92c>] generic_handle_domain_irq+0x28/0x36 [ 107.320148] [<ffffffff8065f9f8>] riscv_intc_irq+0x36/0x4e [ 107.320166] [<ffffffff80caf4a0>] handle_riscv_irq+0x54/0x86 [ 107.320189] [<ffffffff80cb0036>] do_irq+0x64/0x96 [ 107.320271] Code: 85a6 855e b097 ff7f 80e7 9220 b709 9002 4501 bbd9 (9002) 6097 [ 107.320585] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 107.320704] Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt [ 107.320775] SMP: stopping secondary CPUs [ 107.321219] Kernel Offset: 0x0 from 0xffffffff80000000 [ 107.333051] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt ]---

CWE(s)
CWE-252

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-23003Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-52687Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-23301Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-42067Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-52680Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-52692Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-42068Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-53070Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-39492Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-22026Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
5.18 — 6.5.13 · 6.6 — 6.6.3

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and code evaluation can discover instances where return values are ignored.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring a documented development process and coding standards can mandate explicit checking of all function return values.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require checking and handling all function return values to detect error conditions.

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect missing return-value checks.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates verification of return values to prevent undetected failures.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include input/output validation and error handling that covers return-value checks.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
degrades

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require robust error handling and defensive coding practices.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding explicitly requires checking return values to avoid CWE-252.

References