CVE-2023-53438
- Published: 2025-09-18T16:15:47.967
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors
The Instruction Fetch (IF) units on current AMD Zen-based systems do not
guarantee a synchronous #MC is delivered for poison consumption errors.
Therefore, MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV] will not be set. However, the
microarchitecture does guarantee that the exception is delivered within
the same context. In other words, the exact rIP is not known, but the
context is known to not have changed.
There is no architecturally-defined method to determine this behavior.
The Code Segment (CS) register is always valid on such IF unit poison
errors regardless of the value of MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV].
Add a quirk to save the CS register for poison consumption from the IF
unit banks.
This is needed to properly determine the context of the error.
Otherwise, the severity grading function will assume the context is
IN_KERNEL due to the m->cs value being 0 (the initialized value). This
leads to unnecessary kernel panics on data poison errors due to the
kernel believing the poison consumption occurred in kernel context.
Related CVE by CWE
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How to fix CVE-2023-53438
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors The Instruction Fetch (IF) units on current AMD Zen-based systems do not guarantee a synchronous #MC is delivered for poison consumption errors. Therefore, MCG_STATUS[EIPV|RIPV] will not be set. However, the microarchitecture does guarantee that […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
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CVE details first published to NVD database
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Detection Rules & IOCs
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No vendor/product data available.