CVE-2023-53623

System panic via swap availability-list race

Published Oct 7, 2025 · Updated Oct 7, 2025

A race condition in affected Linux kernel versions allows local users to crash the system by racing swap removal with page reclamation. In mm/swapfile.c, swapoff deletes a swap_info_struct from the available list without holding si->lock, allowing get_swap_pages to reinsert it before SWP_WRITEOK is cleared. Reachability requires local access and a high-complexity overlap between page-out activity and repeated swap operations; stale swap metadata can corrupt memory and panic the kernel.

CVSS severity4.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

A race condition in affected Linux kernel versions allows local users to crash the system by racing swap removal with page reclamation. In mm/swapfile.c, swapoff deletes a swap_info_struct from the available list without holding si->lock, allowing get_swap_pages to reinsert it before SWP_WRITEOK is cleared. Reachability requires local access and a high-complexity overlap between page-out activity and repeated swap operations; stale swap metadata can corrupt memory and panic the kernel.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53623
Published
Oct 7, 2025
Updated
Oct 7, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-362, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 7, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 7, 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=4.14
  2. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <111a79d9b92f0a679fe300ccd3119ae9741f3d54
  3. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <4bdf1514b4268d29360ba9e43becdd49955bc7ae
  4. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <6fe7d6b992113719e96744d974212df3fcddc76c
  5. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <85cc118ce6f1a627901b6db50c9d01f2ad78cdbf
  6. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <a55f268abdb74ac5633b75a09fefb58458e9d2a2
  7. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <b9927d3a60ca9ed35625470888629c074e687ba0
  8. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <e7bba7ddb4318d5ea939c8db747c2c2780ab66f4
  9. Affected versionversion=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <ea8c42b3b6d95ced3a4f555f04686d00ef0bb206

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=4.14; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <111a79d9b92f0a679fe300ccd3119ae9741f3d54; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <4bdf1514b4268d29360ba9e43becdd49955bc7ae; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <6fe7d6b992113719e96744d974212df3fcddc76c; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <85cc118ce6f1a627901b6db50c9d01f2ad78cdbf; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <a55f268abdb74ac5633b75a09fefb58458e9d2a2; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <b9927d3a60ca9ed35625470888629c074e687ba0; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <e7bba7ddb4318d5ea939c8db747c2c2780ab66f4; version=a2468cc9bfdff6139f59ca896671e5819ff5f94a <ea8c42b3b6d95ced3a4f555f04686d00ef0bb206

Published CVSS scores

4.7NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.7UbuntuCVSS: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')
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

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo