CVE-2023-53487
- Published: 2025-10-01T12:15:51.637
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
powerpc/rtas_flash: allow user copy to flash block cache objects
With hardened usercopy enabled (CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY=y), using the
/proc/powerpc/rtas/firmware_update interface to prepare a system
firmware update yields a BUG():
kernel BUG at mm/usercopy.c:102!
Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1]
LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 2232 Comm: dd Not tainted 6.5.0-rc3+ #2
Hardware name: IBM,8408-E8E POWER8E (raw) 0x4b0201 0xf000004 of:IBM,FW860.50 (SV860_146) hv:phyp pSeries
NIP: c0000000005991d0 LR: c0000000005991cc CTR: 0000000000000000
REGS: c0000000148c76a0 TRAP: 0700 Not tainted (6.5.0-rc3+)
MSR: 8000000000029033 CR: 24002242 XER: 0000000c
CFAR: c0000000001fbd34 IRQMASK: 0
[ … GPRs omitted … ]
NIP usercopy_abort+0xa0/0xb0
LR usercopy_abort+0x9c/0xb0
Call Trace:
usercopy_abort+0x9c/0xb0 (unreliable)
__check_heap_object+0x1b4/0x1d0
__check_object_size+0x2d0/0x380
rtas_flash_write+0xe4/0x250
proc_reg_write+0xfc/0x160
vfs_write+0xfc/0x4e0
ksys_write+0x90/0x160
system_call_exception+0x178/0x320
system_call_common+0x160/0x2c4
The blocks of the firmware image are copied directly from user memory
to objects allocated from flash_block_cache, so flash_block_cache must
be created using kmem_cache_create_usercopy() to mark it safe for user
access.
[mpe: Trim and indent oops]
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How to fix CVE-2023-53487
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/rtas_flash: allow user copy to flash block cache objects With hardened usercopy enabled (CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY=y), using the /proc/powerpc/rtas/firmware_update interface to prepare a system firmware update yields a BUG(): kernel BUG at mm/usercopy.c:102! Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA […]
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
Vulnerability Timeline
CVE details first published to NVD database
Added to this CVE tracking system
Detection Rules & IOCs
No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.
No vendor/product data available.