CVE-2023-53011

net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default

Published Mar 27, 2025 CVSS 3.1 · 5.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default

In the original implementation of dwmac5
commit 8bf993a5877e ("net: stmmac: Add support for DWMAC5 and implement Safety Features")
all safety features were enabled by default.

Later it seems some implementations didn't have support for all the
features, so in
commit 5ac712dcdfef ("net: stmmac: enable platform specific safety features")
the safety_feat_cfg structure was added to the callback and defined for
some platforms to selectively enable these safety features.

The problem is that only certain platforms were given that software
support. If the automotive safety package bit is set in the hardware
features register the safety feature callback is called for the platform,
and for platforms that didn't get a safety_feat_cfg defined this results
in the following NULL pointer dereference:

[ 7.933303] Call trace:
[ 7.935812] dwmac5_safety_feat_config+0x20/0x170 [stmmac]
[ 7.941455] __stmmac_open+0x16c/0x474 [stmmac]
[ 7.946117] stmmac_open+0x38/0x70 [stmmac]
[ 7.950414] __dev_open+0x100/0x1dc
[ 7.954006] __dev_change_flags+0x18c/0x204
[ 7.958297] dev_change_flags+0x24/0x6c
[ 7.962237] do_setlink+0x2b8/0xfa4
[ 7.965827] __rtnl_newlink+0x4ec/0x840
[ 7.969766] rtnl_newlink+0x50/0x80
[ 7.973353] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x12c/0x374
[ 7.977557] netlink_rcv_skb+0x5c/0x130
[ 7.981500] rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x2c
[ 7.985172] netlink_unicast+0x2e8/0x340
[ 7.989197] netlink_sendmsg+0x1a8/0x420
[ 7.993222] ____sys_sendmsg+0x218/0x280
[ 7.997249] ___sys_sendmsg+0xac/0x100
[ 8.001103] __sys_sendmsg+0x84/0xe0
[ 8.004776] __arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x24/0x30
[ 8.008983] invoke_syscall+0x48/0x114
[ 8.012840] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xcc/0xec
[ 8.017665] do_el0_svc+0x38/0xb0
[ 8.021071] el0_svc+0x2c/0x84
[ 8.024212] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xf4/0x120
[ 8.028598] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194

Go back to the original behavior, if the automotive safety package
is found to be supported in hardware enable all the features unless
safety_feat_cfg is passed in saying this particular platform only
supports a subset of the features.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

Source ID Title
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2023-59709 In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default In the original implementation of dwmac5 commit 8bf993a5877e ("net: stmmac: Add support for DWMAC5 and implement Safety Features") all safety features were enabled by default. Later it seems some implementations didn't have support for all the features, so in commit 5ac712dcdfef ("net: stmmac: enable platform specific safety features") the safety_feat_cfg structure was added to the callback and defined for some platforms to selectively enable these safety features. The problem is that only certain platforms were given that software support. If the automotive safety package bit is set in the hardware features register the safety feature callback is called for the platform, and for platforms that didn't get a safety_feat_cfg defined this results in the following NULL pointer dereference: [ 7.933303] Call trace: [ 7.935812] dwmac5_safety_feat_config+0x20/0x170 [stmmac] [ 7.941455] __stmmac_open+0x16c/0x474 [stmmac] [ 7.946117] stmmac_open+0x38/0x70 [stmmac] [ 7.950414] __dev_open+0x100/0x1dc [ 7.954006] __dev_change_flags+0x18c/0x204 [ 7.958297] dev_change_flags+0x24/0x6c [ 7.962237] do_setlink+0x2b8/0xfa4 [ 7.965827] __rtnl_newlink+0x4ec/0x840 [ 7.969766] rtnl_newlink+0x50/0x80 [ 7.973353] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x12c/0x374 [ 7.977557] netlink_rcv_skb+0x5c/0x130 [ 7.981500] rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x2c [ 7.985172] netlink_unicast+0x2e8/0x340 [ 7.989197] netlink_sendmsg+0x1a8/0x420 [ 7.993222] ____sys_sendmsg+0x218/0x280 [ 7.997249] ___sys_sendmsg+0xac/0x100 [ 8.001103] __sys_sendmsg+0x84/0xe0 [ 8.004776] __arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x24/0x30 [ 8.008983] invoke_syscall+0x48/0x114 [ 8.012840] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xcc/0xec [ 8.017665] do_el0_svc+0x38/0xb0 [ 8.021071] el0_svc+0x2c/0x84 [ 8.024212] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xf4/0x120 [ 8.028598] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 Go back to the original behavior, if the automotive safety package is found to be supported in hardware enable all the features unless safety_feat_cfg is passed in saying this particular platform only supports a subset of the features.
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.4, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-476
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate

cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.4, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Low

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default In the original implementation of dwmac5 commit 8bf993a5877e ("net: stmmac: Add support for DWMAC5 and implement Safety Features") all safety features were enabled by default. Later it seems some implementations didn't have support for all the features, so in commit 5ac712dcdfef ("net: stmmac: enable platform specific safety features") the safety_feat_cfg structure was added to the callback and defined for some platforms to selectively enable these safety features. The problem is that only certain platforms were given that software support. If the automotive safety package bit is set in the hardware features register the safety feature callback is called for the platform, and for platforms that didn't get a safety_feat_cfg defined this results in the following NULL pointer dereference: [ 7.933303] Call trace: [ 7.935812] dwmac5_safety_feat_config+0x20/0x170 [stmmac] [ 7.941455] __stmmac_open+0x16c/0x474 [stmmac] [ 7.946117] stmmac_open+0x38/0x70 [stmmac] [ 7.950414] __dev_open+0x100/0x1dc [ 7.954006] __dev_change_flags+0x18c/0x204 [ 7.958297] dev_change_flags+0x24/0x6c [ 7.962237] do_setlink+0x2b8/0xfa4 [ 7.965827] __rtnl_newlink+0x4ec/0x840 [ 7.969766] rtnl_newlink+0x50/0x80 [ 7.973353] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x12c/0x374 [ 7.977557] netlink_rcv_skb+0x5c/0x130 [ 7.981500] rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x2c [ 7.985172] netlink_unicast+0x2e8/0x340 [ 7.989197] netlink_sendmsg+0x1a8/0x420 [ 7.993222] ____sys_sendmsg+0x218/0x280 [ 7.997249] ___sys_sendmsg+0xac/0x100 [ 8.001103] __sys_sendmsg+0x84/0xe0 [ 8.004776] __arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x24/0x30 [ 8.008983] invoke_syscall+0x48/0x114 [ 8.012840] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xcc/0xec [ 8.017665] do_el0_svc+0x38/0xb0 [ 8.021071] el0_svc+0x2c/0x84 [ 8.024212] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xf4/0x120 [ 8.028598] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 Go back to the original behavior, if the automotive safety package is found to be supported in hardware enable all the features unless safety_feat_cfg is passed in saying this particular platform only supports a subset of the features.
Title net: stmmac: enable all safety features by default
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
May 11, 2026, 7:36 PM
Reserved
Mar 27, 2025, 4:40 PM
Status
Modified
Published
Mar 27, 2025, 5:15 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 6:44 AM
Severity
Low
Public date
Mar 27, 2025, 12:00 AM