Highly exploitable, CVE-2023-53795 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.
Status: Deferred
Last updated: 🕙 04 Aug 2026, 10:19 UTC
Originally published on: 🕐 09 Dec 2025, 01:16 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 238 days
CVSS Release: version 3
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE-2023-53795: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommufd: IOMMUFD_DESTROY should not increase the refcount syzkaller found a race where IOMMUFD_DESTROY increments the refcount: obj = iommufd_get_object(ucmd->ictx, cmd->id, IOMMUFD_OBJ_ANY); if (IS_ERR(obj)) return PTR_ERR(obj); iommufd_ref_to_users(obj); /* See iommufd_ref_to_users() */ if (!iommufd_object_destroy_user(ucmd->ictx, obj)) As part of the sequence to join the two existing primitives together. Allowing the refcount the be elevated without holding the destroy_rwsem violates the assumption that all temporary refcount elevations are protected by destroy_rwsem. Racing IOMMUFD_DESTROY with iommufd_object_destroy_user() will cause spurious failures: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 at drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20 drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:478 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc1-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/03/2023 RIP: 0010:iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20 drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 Code: e8 3d 4e 00 00 84 c0 74 01 c3 0f 0b c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 fe 48 8b bf a8 00 00 00 e8 1d 4e 00 00 84 c0 74 01 c3 <0f> 0b c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 57 41 56 41 55 4c 8d ae d0 00 00 00 41 RSP: 0018:ffffc90003067e08 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888109ea0300 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 00000000ffffffff RBP: 0000000000000004 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88810bbb3500 R10: ffff88810bbb3e48 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffc90003067e88 R13: ffffc90003067ea8 R14: ffff888101249800 R15: 00000000fffffffe FS: 00007ff7254fe6c0(0000) GS:ffff888237c00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000555557262da8 CR3: 000000010a6fd000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace: <TASK> iommufd_test_create_access drivers/iommu/iommufd/selftest.c:596 [inline] iommufd_test+0x71c/0xcf0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/selftest.c:813 iommufd_fops_ioctl+0x10f/0x1b0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/main.c:337 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd The solution is to not increment the refcount on the IOMMUFD_DESTROY path at all. Instead use the xa_lock to serialize everything. The refcount check == 1 and xa_erase can be done under a single critical region. This avoids the need for any refcount incrementing. It has the downside that if userspace races destroy with other operations it will get an EBUSY instead of waiting, but this is kind of racing is already dangerous.
The exploitability of CVE-2023-53795 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
CVE-2023-53795 presents an accessible attack vector with minimal effort required. Restricting access controls and implementing security updates are critical to reducing exploitation risks.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2023-53795, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2023-53795, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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