CVE-2023-53273
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-09-16

Last updated on: 2025-12-03

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Drivers: vmbus: Check for channel allocation before looking up relids relid2channel() assumes vmbus channel array to be allocated when called. However, in cases such as kdump/kexec, not all relids will be reset by the host. When the second kernel boots and if the guest receives a vmbus interrupt during vmbus driver initialization before vmbus_connect() is called, before it finishes, or if it fails, the vmbus interrupt service routine is called which in turn calls relid2channel() and can cause a null pointer dereference. Print a warning and error out in relid2channel() for a channel id that's invalid in the second kernel.
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Meta Information
Published
2025-09-16
Last Modified
2025-12-03
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2025-09-16
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-15
NVD
CVE-2023-53273
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 9 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel From 5.8 (inc) to 5.10.178 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.11 (inc) to 5.15.107 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.16 (inc) to 6.1.24 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.2 (inc) to 6.2.11 (exc)
linux linux_kernel 6.3
linux linux_kernel 6.3
linux linux_kernel 6.3
linux linux_kernel 6.3
linux linux_kernel 6.3
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-476 The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability occurs in the Linux kernel's vmbus driver. The function relid2channel() assumes that the vmbus channel array is allocated when it is called. However, in certain scenarios such as during kdump/kexec, not all relids are reset by the host. If the second kernel boots and the guest receives a vmbus interrupt during the vmbus driver initialization before vmbus_connect() is called or finishes, the interrupt service routine calls relid2channel(), which can cause a null pointer dereference due to the unallocated channel array. The fix involves checking for channel allocation before looking up relids and printing a warning and erroring out for invalid channel IDs in the second kernel.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause a null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's vmbus driver during certain boot scenarios, which may lead to a kernel crash or system instability when the second kernel boots and receives a vmbus interrupt prematurely. This can impact system reliability and availability.

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