Vulnerability · Published Sep 16, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53281drivers: staging: rtl8723bs: Fix locking in _rtw_join_timeout_handler()

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 0.1% (higher than 2% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 98.1% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drivers: staging: rtl8723bs: Fix locking in _rtw_join_timeout_handler() Commit 041879b12ddb ("drivers: staging: rtl8192bs: Fix deadlock in rtw_joinbss_event_prehandle()") besides fixing the deadlock also modified _rtw_join_timeout_handler() to use spin_[un]lock_irq() instead of spin_[un]lock_bh(). _rtw_join_timeout_handler() calls rtw_do_join() which takes pmlmepriv->scanned_queue.lock using spin_[un]lock_bh(). This spin_unlock_bh() call re-enables softirqs which triggers an oops in kernel/softirq.c: __local_bh_enable_ip() when it calls lockdep_assert_irqs_enabled(): [ 244.506087] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 0 at kernel/softirq.c:376 __local_bh_enable_ip+0xa6/0x100 ... [ 244.509022] Call Trace: [ 244.509048] <IRQ> [ 244.509100] _rtw_join_timeout_handler+0x134/0x170 [r8723bs] [ 244.509468] ? __pfx__rtw_join_timeout_handler+0x10/0x10 [r8723bs] [ 244.509772] ? __pfx__rtw_join_timeout_handler+0x10/0x10 [r8723bs] [ 244.510076] call_timer_fn+0x95/0x2a0 [ 244.510200] __run_timers.part.0+0x1da/0x2d0 This oops is causd by the switch to spin_[un]lock_irq() which disables the IRQs for the entire duration of _rtw_join_timeout_handler(). Disabling the IRQs is not necessary since all code taking this lock runs from either user contexts or from softirqs, switch back to spin_[un]lock_bh() to fix this.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.37-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53281
Debian:13linux6.3.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53281
Debian:14linux6.3.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-79.86UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1042.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1045.52UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1045.52.1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1039.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1039.44UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1025.30UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1035.38UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1037.42UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1039.44UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-79.88UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1030.30UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1016.16UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1002.2UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1040.46UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1035.38UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1025.29UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53281

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux ae60744d5fad840b9d056d35b4b652d95e755846 – before 209850f17717a3b5cc558578bef5631ac7045539041879b12ddb0c6c83ed9c0bdd10dc82a056f2fc – before 2a50e44a66d268ee5db3d177f1fdc1503dbce6e7041879b12ddb0c6c83ed9c0bdd10dc82a056f2fc – before dc327e87c6d9bfd9ee08e76396b3c0ba848ec554041879b12ddb0c6c83ed9c0bdd10dc82a056f2fc – before 4ab1bace1dd3875371b481ef4301c4671bddea22041879b12ddb0c6c83ed9c0bdd10dc82a056f2fc – before 215792eda008f6a1e7ed9d77fa20d582d22bb1141f6c99b94ca3caad346876b3e22e3ca3d25bc8eeeca9748d9267a38d532464e3305a38629e9c35a95.15.47 – before 5.15.111
Linux Linux 5.19

Weakness: CWE-667 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References