Vulnerability · Published Sep 15, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53169x86/resctrl: Clear staged_config[] before and after it is used

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 94.9% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/resctrl: Clear staged_config[] before and after it is used As a temporary storage, staged_config[] in rdt_domain should be cleared before and after it is used. The stale value in staged_config[] could cause an MSR access error. Here is a reproducer on a system with 16 usable CLOSIDs for a 15-way L3 Cache (MBA should be disabled if the number of CLOSIDs for MB is less than 16.) : mount -t resctrl resctrl -o cdp /sys/fs/resctrl mkdir /sys/fs/resctrl/p{1..7} umount /sys/fs/resctrl/ mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl mkdir /sys/fs/resctrl/p{1..8} An error occurs when creating resource group named p8: unchecked MSR access error: WRMSR to 0xca0 (tried to write 0x00000000000007ff) at rIP: 0xffffffff82249142 (cat_wrmsr+0x32/0x60) Call Trace: <IRQ> __flush_smp_call_function_queue+0x11d/0x170 __sysvec_call_function+0x24/0xd0 sysvec_call_function+0x89/0xc0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_sysvec_call_function+0x16/0x20 When creating a new resource control group, hardware will be configured by the following process: rdtgroup_mkdir() rdtgroup_mkdir_ctrl_mon() rdtgroup_init_alloc() resctrl_arch_update_domains() resctrl_arch_update_domains() iterates and updates all resctrl_conf_type whose have_new_ctrl is true. Since staged_config[] holds the same values as when CDP was enabled, it will continue to update the CDP_CODE and CDP_DATA configurations. When group p8 is created, get_config_index() called in resctrl_arch_update_domains() will return 16 and 17 as the CLOSIDs for CDP_CODE and CDP_DATA, which will be translated to an invalid register - 0xca0 in this scenario. Fix it by clearing staged_config[] before and after it is used. [reinette: re-order commit tags]

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.25-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53169
Debian:13linux6.1.25-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53169
Debian:14linux6.1.25-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-79.86UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1042.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1045.52UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1045.52.1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1039.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1039.44UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1025.30UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1035.38UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1037.42UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1039.44UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-79.88UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1030.30UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1016.16UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1002.2UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1040.46UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1035.38UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1025.29UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53169

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 75408e43509ed6207870c0e7e28656acbbc1f7fd – before 86db319d25db70cf4af4557e05f6fa6f39c7000375408e43509ed6207870c0e7e28656acbbc1f7fd – before 3fc5941ecc31a495b6b84b465f36155009db99b575408e43509ed6207870c0e7e28656acbbc1f7fd – before 8ecc60ef9318f0d533b866fa421858cc185bccfc75408e43509ed6207870c0e7e28656acbbc1f7fd – before 0424a7dfe9129b93f29b277511a60e87f052ac6b
Linux Linux 5.15

References