CVE-2023-53369

MEDIUM
Published Sep 18, 2025 Modified Jan 14, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dcb: choose correct policy to parse DCB_ATTR_BCN The dcbnl_bcn_setcfg uses erroneous policy to parse tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN], which is introduced in commit 859ee3c43812 ("DCB: Add support for DCB BCN"). Please see the comment in below code static int dcbnl_bcn_setcfg(...) { ... ret = nla_parse_nested_deprecated(..., dcbnl_pfc_up_nest, .. ) // !!! dcbnl_pfc_up_nest for attributes // DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0 to DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL in enum dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7 in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_byte = nla_get_u8(data[i]); ... } ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_int = nla_get_u32(data[i]); ... } ... } That is, the nla_parse_nested_deprecated uses dcbnl_pfc_up_nest attributes to parse nlattr defined in dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs. But the following access code fetch each nlattr as dcbnl_bcn_attrs attributes. By looking up the associated nla_policy for dcbnl_bcn_attrs. We can find the beginning part of these two policies are "same". static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_pfc_up_nest[...] = { [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_bcn_nest[...] = { [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, // from here is somewhat different [DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0] = {.type = NLA_U32}, ... [DCB_BCN_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; Therefore, the current code is buggy and this nla_parse_nested_deprecated could overflow the dcbnl_pfc_up_nest and use the adjacent nla_policy to parse attributes from DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0. Hence use the correct policy dcbnl_bcn_nest to parse the nested tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN] TLV.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

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

Affected Products

Vendor Product
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-53369? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dcb: choose correct policy to parse DCB_ATTR_BCN The dcbnl_bcn_setcfg uses erroneous policy to parse tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN], which is introduced in commit 859ee3c43812 ("DCB: Add support for DCB BCN"). Please see the comment in below code static int dcbnl_bcn_setcfg(...) { ... ret = nla_parse_nested_deprecated(..., dcbnl_pfc_up_nest, .. ) // !!! dcbnl_pfc_up_nest for attributes // DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0 to DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL in enum dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7 in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_byte = nla_get_u8(data[i]); ... } ... for (i = DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0; i <= DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI; i++) { // !!! DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0 to DCB_BCN_ATTR_RI in enum dcbnl_bcn_attrs ... value_int = nla_get_u32(data[i]); ... } ... } That is, the nla_parse_nested_deprecated uses dcbnl_pfc_up_nest attributes to parse nlattr defined in dcbnl_pfc_up_attrs. But the following access code fetch each nlattr as dcbnl_bcn_attrs attributes. By looking up the associated nla_policy for dcbnl_bcn_attrs. We can find the beginning part of these two policies are "same". static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_pfc_up_nest[...] = { [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_PFC_UP_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; static const struct nla_policy dcbnl_bcn_nest[...] = { [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_0] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_1] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_2] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_3] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_4] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_5] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_6] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_7] = {.type = NLA_U8}, [DCB_BCN_ATTR_RP_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, // from here is somewhat different [DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0] = {.type = NLA_U32}, ... [DCB_BCN_ATTR_ALL] = {.type = NLA_FLAG}, }; Therefore, the current code is buggy and this nla_parse_nested_deprecated could overflow the dcbnl_pfc_up_nest and use the adjacent nla_policy to parse attributes from DCB_BCN_ATTR_BCNA_0. Hence use the correct policy dcbnl_bcn_nest to parse the nested tb[DCB_ATTR_BCN] TLV. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2023-53369? +
CVE-2023-53369 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.
What products are affected by CVE-2023-53369? +
CVE-2023-53369 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2023-53369? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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