Security Resilience

CVE-2023-53148

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel ≤ 4.14.322

Memory Safety
Published
15 September 2025
Modified
25 November 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-53148 is a high-severity Double Free (CWE-415) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Steganography (T1001.002); ranked at the 6th 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-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: igb: Fix igb_down hung on surprise removal In a setup where a Thunderbolt hub connects to Ethernet and a display through USB Type-C, users may experience a hung task timeout…

more

when they remove the cable between the PC and the Thunderbolt hub. This is because the igb_down function is called multiple times when the Thunderbolt hub is unplugged. For example, the igb_io_error_detected triggers the first call, and the igb_remove triggers the second call. The second call to igb_down will block at napi_synchronize. Here's the call trace: __schedule+0x3b0/0xddb ? __mod_timer+0x164/0x5d3 schedule+0x44/0xa8 schedule_timeout+0xb2/0x2a4 ? run_local_timers+0x4e/0x4e msleep+0x31/0x38 igb_down+0x12c/0x22a [igb 6615058754948bfde0bf01429257eb59f13030d4] __igb_close+0x6f/0x9c [igb 6615058754948bfde0bf01429257eb59f13030d4] igb_close+0x23/0x2b [igb 6615058754948bfde0bf01429257eb59f13030d4] __dev_close_many+0x95/0xec dev_close_many+0x6e/0x103 unregister_netdevice_many+0x105/0x5b1 unregister_netdevice_queue+0xc2/0x10d unregister_netdev+0x1c/0x23 igb_remove+0xa7/0x11c [igb 6615058754948bfde0bf01429257eb59f13030d4] pci_device_remove+0x3f/0x9c device_release_driver_internal+0xfe/0x1b4 pci_stop_bus_device+0x5b/0x7f pci_stop_bus_device+0x30/0x7f pci_stop_bus_device+0x30/0x7f pci_stop_and_remove_bus_device+0x12/0x19 pciehp_unconfigure_device+0x76/0xe9 pciehp_disable_slot+0x6e/0x131 pciehp_handle_presence_or_link_change+0x7a/0x3f7 pciehp_ist+0xbe/0x194 irq_thread_fn+0x22/0x4d ? irq_thread+0x1fd/0x1fd irq_thread+0x17b/0x1fd ? irq_forced_thread_fn+0x5f/0x5f kthread+0x142/0x153 ? __irq_get_irqchip_state+0x46/0x46 ? kthread_associate_blkcg+0x71/0x71 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 In this case, igb_io_error_detected detaches the network interface and requests a PCIE slot reset, however, the PCIE reset callback is not being invoked and thus the Ethernet connection breaks down. As the PCIE error in this case is a non-fatal one, requesting a slot reset can be avoided. This patch fixes the task hung issue and preserves Ethernet connection by ignoring non-fatal PCIE errors.

CWE(s)
CWE-415

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2024-56708Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-43414Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-46183Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
≤ 4.14.322 · 4.15 — 4.19.291 · 4.20 — 5.4.251

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 1 hardening rule · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation explicitly includes dynamic analysis and fuzzing that locate double-free defects before release.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles can require memory-safe allocation patterns or language features that structurally eliminate double-free opportunities.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation partial match

Flaw remediation processes require identification and correction of memory-management defects such as double free once discovered.

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 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent double-free errors via static analysis, safe memory APIs, and testing.

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.5.32 Intellectual property rights partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248590 OL 8 must clear the page allocator to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-415

References