Buffer overflow in Linux
CVE-2023-53184
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64/sme: Set new vector length before reallocating As part of fixing the allocation of the buffer for SVE state when changing SME vector length we introduced an immediate reallocation of the SVE state, this is also done when changing the SVE vector length for consistency. Unfortunately this reallocation is done prior to writing the new vector length to the task struct, meaning the allocation is done with the old vector length and can lead to memory corruption due to an undersized buffer being used. Move the update of the vector length before the allocation to ensure that the new vector length is taken into account. For some reason this isn't triggering any problems when running tests on the arm64 fixes branch (even after repeated tries) but is triggering issues very often after merge into mainline.
Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.002 (4.8th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 5th percentile — 4.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions aa5cf8bd1318b6e7d500668b318c07a71cde783b, 292f0453b0d021bb1d3f64648bfdfca093512214, d4d5be94a87872421ea2569044092535aff0b886
- Linux Kernel — versions 6.1.42, 6.4.7, 6.5
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2023-53184?
- CVE-2023-53184 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-09-15.
- How severe is CVE-2023-53184?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.