Vulnerability Database

374,587

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2023-53590 — linux / linux_kernel

Improper Locking

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

sctp: add a refcnt in sctp_stream_priorities to avoid a nested loop

With this refcnt added in sctp_stream_priorities, we don't need to traverse all streams to check if the prio is used by other streams when freeing one stream's prio in sctp_sched_prio_free_sid(). This can avoid a nested loop (up to 65535 * 65535), which may cause a stuck as Ying reported:

watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#23 stuck for 26s! [ksoftirqd/23:136] Call Trace: <TASK> sctp_sched_prio_free_sid+0xab/0x100 [sctp] sctp_stream_free_ext+0x64/0xa0 [sctp] sctp_stream_free+0x31/0x50 [sctp] sctp_association_free+0xa5/0x200 [sctp]

Note that it doesn't need to use refcount_t type for this counter, as its accessing is always protected under the sock lock.

v1->v2:

  • add a check in sctp_sched_prio_set to avoid the possible prio_head refcnt overflow.
  • Published: Oct 4, 2025
  • Updated: Feb 10, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2023-53590
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5.5
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWEs:

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

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Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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