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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53178

medium Nessus Plugin ID 264904

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - mm: fix zswap writeback race condition The zswap writeback mechanism can cause a race condition resulting in memory corruption, where a swapped out page gets swapped in with data that was written to a different page. The race unfolds like this: 1. a page with data A and swap offset X is stored in zswap 2. page A is removed off the LRU by zpool driver for writeback in zswap-shrink work, data for A is mapped by zpool driver 3. user space program faults and invalidates page entry A, offset X is considered free 4. kswapd stores page B at offset X in zswap (zswap could also be full, if so, page B would then be IOed to X, then skip step 5.) 5. entry A is replaced by B in tree->rbroot, this doesn't affect the local reference held by zswap-shrink work 6. zswap-shrink work writes back A at X, and frees zswap entry A 7. swapin of slot X brings A in memory instead of B The fix: Once the swap page cache has been allocated (case ZSWAP_SWAPCACHE_NEW), zswap-shrink work just checks that the local zswap_entry reference is still the same as the one in the tree. If it's not the same it means that it's either been invalidated or replaced, in both cases the writeback is aborted because the local entry contains stale data. Reproducer: I originally found this by running `stress` overnight to validate my work on the zswap writeback mechanism, it manifested after hours on my test machine. The key to make it happen is having zswap writebacks, so whatever setup pumps /sys/kernel/debug/zswap/written_back_pages should do the trick. In order to reproduce this faster on a vm, I setup a system with ~100M of available memory and a 500M swap file, then running `stress --vm 1 --vm-bytes 300000000 --vm-stride 4000` makes it happen in matter of tens of minutes. One can speed things up even more by swinging /sys/module/zswap/parameters/max_pool_percent up and down between, say, 20 and 1; this makes it reproduce in tens of seconds. It's crucial to set `--vm-stride` to something other than 4096 otherwise `stress` won't realize that memory has been corrupted because all pages would have the same data. (CVE-2023-53178)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2023-53178

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53178

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53178

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 264904

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2023_53178.nasl

Version: 1.5

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 9/16/2025

Updated: 9/30/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.7

Temporal Score: 3.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-53178

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.3

Temporal Score: 5.5

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-kdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.4, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.5, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-5.13, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.5, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.5, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-kdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-kvm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.19, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:python-perf, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi-5.4, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm-5.15, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.17, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-cross-headers, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-tools-libs, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-ipaclones-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-devel, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:python-perf, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iotg-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.13, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.5, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.11, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-doc, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-abi-whitelists, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.8, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-5.19, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-kvm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-kdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi-realtime, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.4, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.2, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.19, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-allwinner-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.2, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-tegra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.0, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-bootwrapper, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-trace-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-cross-headers, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.2, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-tools-libs-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.11, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:perf, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.4, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-4.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.3, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-trace-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-abi-stablelists, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm-5.4, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-abi-stablelists, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-devel, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.5, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-xilinx-zynqmp, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.3, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.11, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-trace-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi2, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iot-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.4, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-bootwrapper, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.8, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-kvm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-ipaclones-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lts-xenial, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-trace, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.2, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-kdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.11, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-trace-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.10, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.13, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.13, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.6, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-bluefield, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iotg, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.1, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-hwe, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.5, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.14, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-4.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-abi-whitelists, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-trace, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-iot, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-4.15, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.2

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/15/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-53178