CVE-2023-53520

Kernel crash via Bluetooth device teardown race

Published Oct 1, 2025 · Updated Oct 1, 2025

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem allows local users to crash the system during a suspend transition. hci_unregister_dev() can free an hci_dev while hci_suspend_notifier still accesses it because the notifier does not retain an object reference. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, precise race timing, Bluetooth device teardown, and a concurrent system suspend.

CVSS severity4.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.11%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem allows local users to crash the system during a suspend transition. hci_unregister_dev() can free an hci_dev while hci_suspend_notifier still accesses it because the notifier does not retain an object reference. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, precise race timing, Bluetooth device teardown, and a concurrent system suspend.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53520
Published
Oct 1, 2025
Updated
Oct 1, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-362, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

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

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <06e2b5ad72b60f90bfe565c201346532e271f484
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <573ebae162111063eedc6c838a659ba628f66a0f
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <f9c8ce5d665653e3cf71a76349d41d7a7f7947e6

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <06e2b5ad72b60f90bfe565c201346532e271f484; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <573ebae162111063eedc6c838a659ba628f66a0f; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <f9c8ce5d665653e3cf71a76349d41d7a7f7947e6

Published CVSS scores

4.7NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

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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