CVE-2023-53536CWE-416

CVE-2023-53536

High · published October 4, 2025

CVSS v3.1
7.8
EPSS
0%
Percentile
4.8
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

blk-crypto: make blk_crypto_evict_key() more robust

If blk_crypto_evict_key() sees that the key is still in-use (due to a

bug) or that ->keyslot_evict failed, it currently just returns while

leaving the key linked into the keyslot management structures.

However, blk_crypto_evict_key() is only called in contexts such as inode

eviction where failure is not an option. So actually the caller

proceeds with freeing the blk_crypto_key regardless of the return value

of blk_crypto_evict_key().

These two assumptions don't match, and the result is that there can be a

use-after-free in blk_crypto_reprogram_all_keys() after one of these

errors occurs. (Note, these errors *shouldn't* happen; we're just

talking about what happens if they do anyway.)

Fix this by making blk_crypto_evict_key() unlink the key from the

keyslot management structures even on failure.

Also improve some comments.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.8 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00160 · 4.8th percentile
Weakness
CWE-416 · Use After Free
Published
2025-10-04T20:15Z
Affected products (5)
ProductVersionsFixed in
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.8, < 5.10.1805.10.180
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.11, < 5.15.1115.15.111
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.16, < 6.1.286.1.28
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.2, < 6.2.156.2.15
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.3, < 6.3.26.3.2
References (6)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 04 OCT 15:16Z
    blk-crypto: make blk_crypto_evict_key() more robust
    cvelistv5