---
id: CVE-2023-53491
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  start_kernel: Add __no_stack_protector function attribute

  Back during the discussion of
  commit a9a3ed1eff36 ("x86: Fix early boot crash on gcc-10, third try")
  we discu…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  start_kernel: Add __no_stack_protector function attribute

  Back during the discussion of
  commit a9a3ed1eff36 ("x86: Fix early boot crash on gcc-10, third try")
  we discu…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 2.6.30, < 6.4.4'
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.4.4
published: '2025-10-01'
updated: '2026-10-03'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-03T11:17:27.973'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53491'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25e73018b4093e0cfbcec5dc4a4bb86d0b69ed56'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/514ca14ed5444b911de59ed3381dfd195d99fe4b'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a7e8f89cdee16db705905a5b1ce2100b13dd63e'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00297
epssPercentile: 0.20302
ingestedAt: '2026-10-03T11:43:42.108Z'
---

## Overview

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

start_kernel: Add __no_stack_protector function attribute

Back during the discussion of
commit a9a3ed1eff36 ("x86: Fix early boot crash on gcc-10, third try")
we discussed the need for a function attribute to control the omission
of stack protectors on a per-function basis; at the time Clang had
support for no_stack_protector but GCC did not. This was fixed in
gcc-11. Now that the function attribute is available, let's start using
it.

Callers of boot_init_stack_canary need to use this function attribute
unless they're compiled with -fno-stack-protector, otherwise the canary
stored in the stack slot of the caller will differ upon the call to
boot_init_stack_canary. This will lead to a call to __stack_chk_fail()
then panic.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 2.6.30, < 6.4.4`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.4.4`