Vulnerability · Published Sep 18, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53438x86/MCE: Always save CS register on AMD Zen IF Poison errors

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 4% 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 96.0% 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: 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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.55-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53438
Debian:13linux6.5.3-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53438
Debian:14linux6.5.3-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinuxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-awsno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azureno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcpno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeopno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibmno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotgno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvmno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatencyno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidiano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegrano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspino fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmpno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53438

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – before e6e6a5f50f58fadec397b23064b7e4830292863d1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – before 6eac3965901489ae114a664a78cd2d1415d1af5c1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – before 2e01bdf7203c383e9d8489d9f963c52d6c81e4db1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – before 4240e2ebe67941ce2c4f5c866c3af4b5ac7a0c67
Linux Linux 2.6.12

References