Kernel crash via missing recovery-mode driver data
Published May 2, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Denial of service in the Linux kernel i40e driver allows local users to crash the kernel by rebooting a host with adapter recovery mode active. During recovery-mode probe, i40e_init_recovery_mode skips pci_set_drvdata, so i40e_shutdown receives NULL from pci_get_drvdata and dereferences it. The crash requires a physical i40e adapter whose firmware is already in recovery mode and a locally initiated shutdown or reboot.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in the Linux kernel i40e driver allows local users to crash the kernel by rebooting a host with adapter recovery mode active. During recovery-mode probe, i40e_init_recovery_mode skips pci_set_drvdata, so i40e_shutdown receives NULL from pci_get_drvdata and dereferences it. The crash requires a physical i40e adapter whose firmware is already in recovery mode and a locally initiated shutdown or reboot.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53114
- Published
- May 2, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1529
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 2, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- 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.
- Affected versionversion=4ff0ee1af016976acb6a525e68ec9a5a85d7abdc <3cbecb1c9085a00155639404f7addbcbfc987ba3
- Affected versionversion=4ff0ee1af016976acb6a525e68ec9a5a85d7abdc <4ff82695266576a0b4f1077a7100b2451e476df4
- Affected versionversion=4ff0ee1af016976acb6a525e68ec9a5a85d7abdc <6e18f66b704bd725196508c1db93bf7338cdc8de
- Affected versionversion=4ff0ee1af016976acb6a525e68ec9a5a85d7abdc <7e4f8a0c495413a50413e8c9f1032ce1bc633bae
- Affected versionversion=4ff0ee1af016976acb6a525e68ec9a5a85d7abdc <b3826fb3ea14646b3d4e6309bfc384b349f36eb6
- Affected versionversion=4ff0ee1af016976acb6a525e68ec9a5a85d7abdc <c703362a66ea971905b9dc153fc54d1b6ac05423
- Affected versionversion=5.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Public exploit references
- Upstream recovery-mode reboot reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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