CVE-2023-53184

arm64/sme: Set new vector length before reallocating

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: September 15, 2025 at 02:04 PM UTC
Updated: October 15, 2026 at 10:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64/sme: Set new vector length before reallocating As part of fixing the allocation of the buffer for SVE state when changing SME vector length we introduced an immediate reallocation of the SVE state, this is also done when changing the SVE vector length for consistency. Unfortunately this reallocation is done prior to writing the new vector length to the task struct, meaning the allocation is done with the old vector length and can lead to memory corruption due to an undersized buffer being used. Move the update of the vector length before the allocation to ensure that the new vector length is taken into account. For some reason this isn't triggering any problems when running tests on the arm64 fixes branch (even after repeated tries) but is triggering issues very often after merge into mainline.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

292f0453b0d021bb1d3f64648bfdfca0935122146.1.426.4.76.56.5 rc3aa5cf8bd1318b6e7d500668b318c07a71cde783bd4d5be94a87872421ea2569044092535aff0b886
Vendor states this is fixed in 05d881b85b48c7ac6a7c92ce00aa916c4a84d052 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 356e711640aea6ed145da9407499388b45264cb4 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 807ada0e4aa3c9090c66009a99fa530c462012c9 (fixed)
Affected range stops below 6.1.43, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 6.4.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

References (3)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/05d881b85b48c7ac6a7c92ce00aa916c4a84d052
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/356e711640aea6ed145da9407499388b45264cb4
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/807ada0e4aa3c9090c66009a99fa530c462012c9

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-787

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