CVE-2023-53287: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2023-53287 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel's USB cdns3 driver caused by improper spin lock handling during device resume. The flaw results in a kernel warning (BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context) when pm_runtime_set_active is invoked inside a spin lock during the resume process on affected hardware (e.g., Freescale i.MX8QM). Affected kernel versions include 5.4 through 5.15.132, 5.16 through 6.1.54, and 6.2 through 6.5.4. It was publicly disclosed on September 16, 2025, and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (Medium) (Red Hat Advisory, Red Hat Bugzilla).

The root cause is an improper synchronization issue (CWE-667: Improper Locking) in the cdns_resume() function of the drivers/usb/cdns3 subsystem. The pm_runtime_set_active() call, which may schedule the device and resume suppliers, was incorrectly placed inside a spin lock that is meant only to protect the struct cdns data structure. Since spin locks require atomic context and pm_runtime_set_active can sleep, this creates an invalid context violation. The fix moves the pm_runtime_set_active call outside the spin lock to allow proper scheduling during the resume path (Red Hat Bugzilla, Red Hat Advisory).

Exploitation of this vulnerability results in a high availability impact — a local attacker or a triggered USB device resume event can cause kernel warnings and potential system instability or crash on affected systems. There is no confidentiality or integrity impact, as the flaw is limited to disrupting system operations. The scope is limited to the local system, with no known potential for lateral movement or data exposure (Red Hat Advisory, Red Hat Bugzilla).

There is no public proof-of-concept exploit and no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation at this time. The vulnerability requires local access with low privileges to trigger, limiting its attack surface. The EPSS score is approximately 0.018% (0.000180), indicating a very low probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog (Red Hat Advisory).

Patches are available in upstream Linux kernel versions 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5, and 6.6. Administrators should update to one of these patched versions as the primary remediation. As interim measures, restricting local user access on systems with USB cdns3 hardware and monitoring kernel logs for warnings related to sleeping function called from invalid context in the cdns_resume path can help detect potential triggering of this issue. SUSE has also released vendor-specific kernel advisories addressing this CVE (Red Hat Advisory, SUSE Advisory).

Red Hat has tracked this issue via its Security Response team and assigned it a low severity/priority rating in Bugzilla. SUSE has issued multiple kernel advisories addressing this CVE. No notable independent researcher commentary or significant social media discussion has been identified for this vulnerability (Red Hat Bugzilla, SUSE Advisory).