CVE-2023-53079

Kernel crash via dangling mlx5 steering rules

Published May 2, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Dangling-pointer access in Linux kernel net/mlx5 allows local users to crash the kernel during PCI EEH recovery and vport reinitialization. The EEH teardown path leaves multicast and unicast steering-rule pointers non-null after their software rules become invalid, so resume cleanup tries to delete them again. Reachability requires an affected kernel, mlx5 virtual-port steering, and an EEH recovery event; the bounded consequence is a host kernel crash.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.21%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Dangling-pointer access in Linux kernel net/mlx5 allows local users to crash the kernel during PCI EEH recovery and vport reinitialization. The EEH teardown path leaves multicast and unicast steering-rule pointers non-null after their software rules become invalid, so resume cleanup tries to delete them again. Reachability requires an affected kernel, mlx5 virtual-port steering, and an EEH recovery event; the bounded consequence is a host kernel crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53079
Published
May 2, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 2, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.7
  2. Affected versionversion=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <18cead61e437f4c7898acca0a5f3df12f801d97f
  3. Affected versionversion=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <4df1f2d36bdc9a368650bf14b9097c555e95f71d
  4. Affected versionversion=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <63546395a0e6ac264f78f65218086ce6014b4494
  5. Affected versionversion=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <6f5780536181d1d0d09a11a1bc92f22e143447e2
  6. Affected versionversion=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <922f56e9a795d6f3dd72d3428ebdd7ee040fa855

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=4.7; version=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <18cead61e437f4c7898acca0a5f3df12f801d97f; version=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <4df1f2d36bdc9a368650bf14b9097c555e95f71d; version=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <63546395a0e6ac264f78f65218086ce6014b4494; version=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <6f5780536181d1d0d09a11a1bc92f22e143447e2; version=a35f71f27a614aff106cc89b86168962bce2725f <922f56e9a795d6f3dd72d3428ebdd7ee040fa855

Published CVSS scores

5.5UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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