Linux Kernel up to 6.4.11 map_user_pages integer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.11. This affects the function map_user_pages. Executing a manipulation can lead to integer overflow. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2023-53778. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.11 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function map_user_pages. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a integer overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-190. The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound, when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This can introduce other weaknesses when the calculation is used for resource management or execution control. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: accel/qaic: Clean up integer overflow checking in map_user_pages() The encode_dma() function has some validation on in_trans->size but it would be more clear to move those checks to find_and_map_user_pages(). The encode_dma() had two checks: if (in_trans->addr + in_trans->size < in_trans->addr || !in_trans->size) return -EINVAL; The in_trans->addr variable is the starting address. The in_trans->size variable is the total size of the transfer. The transfer can occur in parts and the resources->xferred_dma_size tracks how many bytes we have already transferred. This patch introduces a new variable "remaining" which represents the amount we want to transfer (in_trans->size) minus the amount we have already transferred (resources->xferred_dma_size). I have modified the check for if in_trans->size is zero to instead check if in_trans->size is less than resources->xferred_dma_size. If we have already transferred more bytes than in_trans->size then there are negative bytes remaining which doesn't make sense. If there are zero bytes remaining to be copied, just return success. The check in encode_dma() checked that "addr + size" could not overflow and barring a driver bug that should work, but it's easier to check if we do this in parts. First check that "in_trans->addr + resources->xferred_dma_size" is safe. Then check that "xfer_start_addr + remaining" is safe. My final concern was that we are dealing with u64 values but on 32bit systems the kmalloc() function will truncate the sizes to 32 bits. So I calculated "total = in_trans->size + offset_in_page(xfer_start_addr);" and returned -EINVAL if it were >= SIZE_MAX. This will not affect 64bit systems.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2023-53778 since 12/09/2025. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/29/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 278355 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53778), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.4.12 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d410a96e5cb8c1ec7049c83f2edcd8bbfaf5d9b3/96d3c1cadedb6ae2e8965e19cd12caa244afbd9c 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 (278355) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2765). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6
• 6.4.7
• 6.4.8
• 6.4.9
• 6.4.10
• 6.4.11

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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