Linux Kernel up to 6.2.11 pci_bus_release_domain_nr use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.2.11 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function pci_bus_release_domain_nr. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-53363. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.2.11. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function pci_bus_release_domain_nr. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: PCI: Fix use-after-free in pci_bus_release_domain_nr() Commit c14f7ccc9f5d ("PCI: Assign PCI domain IDs by ida_alloc()") introduced a use-after-free bug in the bus removal cleanup. The issue was found with kfence: [ 19.293351] BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free read in pci_bus_release_domain_nr+0x10/0x70 [ 19.302817] Use-after-free read at 0x000000007f3b80eb (in kfence-#115): [ 19.309677] pci_bus_release_domain_nr+0x10/0x70 [ 19.309691] dw_pcie_host_deinit+0x28/0x78 [ 19.309702] tegra_pcie_deinit_controller+0x1c/0x38 [pcie_tegra194] [ 19.309734] tegra_pcie_dw_probe+0x648/0xb28 [pcie_tegra194] [ 19.309752] platform_probe+0x90/0xd8 ... [ 19.311457] kfence-#115: 0x00000000063a155a-0x00000000ba698da8, size=1072, cache=kmalloc-2k [ 19.311469] allocated by task 96 on cpu 10 at 19.279323s: [ 19.311562] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x260/0x278 [ 19.311571] kmalloc_trace+0x24/0x30 [ 19.311580] pci_alloc_bus+0x24/0xa0 [ 19.311590] pci_register_host_bridge+0x48/0x4b8 [ 19.311601] pci_scan_root_bus_bridge+0xc0/0xe8 [ 19.311613] pci_host_probe+0x18/0xc0 [ 19.311623] dw_pcie_host_init+0x2c0/0x568 [ 19.311630] tegra_pcie_dw_probe+0x610/0xb28 [pcie_tegra194] [ 19.311647] platform_probe+0x90/0xd8 ... [ 19.311782] freed by task 96 on cpu 10 at 19.285833s: [ 19.311799] release_pcibus_dev+0x30/0x40 [ 19.311808] device_release+0x30/0x90 [ 19.311814] kobject_put+0xa8/0x120 [ 19.311832] device_unregister+0x20/0x30 [ 19.311839] pci_remove_bus+0x78/0x88 [ 19.311850] pci_remove_root_bus+0x5c/0x98 [ 19.311860] dw_pcie_host_deinit+0x28/0x78 [ 19.311866] tegra_pcie_deinit_controller+0x1c/0x38 [pcie_tegra194] [ 19.311883] tegra_pcie_dw_probe+0x648/0xb28 [pcie_tegra194] [ 19.311900] platform_probe+0x90/0xd8 ... [ 19.313579] CPU: 10 PID: 96 Comm: kworker/u24:2 Not tainted 6.2.0 #4 [ 19.320171] Hardware name: /, BIOS 1.0-d7fb19b 08/10/2022 [ 19.325852] Workqueue: events_unbound deferred_probe_work_func The stack trace is a bit misleading as dw_pcie_host_deinit() doesn't directly call pci_bus_release_domain_nr(). The issue turns out to be in pci_remove_root_bus() which first calls pci_remove_bus() which frees the struct pci_bus when its struct device is released. Then pci_bus_release_domain_nr() is called and accesses the freed struct pci_bus. Reordering these fixes the issue.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-53363 since 09/17/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/27/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 265661 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53363), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.2.12 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 52b0343c7d628f37b38e3279ba585526b850ad3b/ad367516b1c09317111255ecfbf5e42c33e31918/fbf45385e3419b8698b5e0a434847072375cfec2/07a75c0050e59c50f038cc5f4e2a3258c8f8c9d0/30ba2d09edb5ea857a1473ae3d820911347ada62 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (265661) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2087). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4
• 6.2.5
• 6.2.6
• 6.2.7
• 6.2.8
• 6.2.9
• 6.2.10
• 6.2.11

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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