CVE-2023-53698 (GCVE-0-2023-53698)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-10-22 13:23 – Updated: 2026-10-15 21:41
VLAI
Title
xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path Fix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen when a system is running out of memory. If xp_alloc_tx_descs() fails, and it can only fail due to not having enough memory, then the error path is triggered. In this error path, the refcount of the pool is decremented as it has incremented before. However, the reference to the pool in the socket was not nulled. This means that when the socket is closed later, the socket teardown logic will think that there is a pool attached to the socket and try to decrease the refcount again, leading to a refcount underflow. I chose this fix as it involved adding just a single line. Another option would have been to move xp_get_pool() and the assignment of xs->pool to after the if-statement and using xs_umem->pool instead of xs->pool in the whole if-statement resulting in somewhat simpler code, but this would have led to much more churn in the code base perhaps making it harder to backport.
Severity
7.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC
Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: total
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2026-10-15 21:36 UTC
Assigner
Linux CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard D 53/100 over 7033 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: f7019562f142bc041f9cde63af338d1886585923 , < 789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3 (git)
Affected: ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e , < 15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777 (git)
Affected: ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e , < 3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072 (git)
Affected: ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e , < 85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d (git)
Affected: 9f0c8a9d4ef1b9ebee0e4ac2495fe790727044aa (git)
Affected: 5.15.47 , < 5.15.127 (semver)
Affected: 5.17.15 , < 5.18 (semver)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Affected: 5.18
Unaffected: 0 , < 5.18 (semver)
Unaffected: 5.15.127 , ≤ 5.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.1.46 , ≤ 6.1.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.4.11 , ≤ 6.4.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.5 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2023-53698",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "total"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-10-15T21:36:35.978263Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-10-15T21:41:33.758Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/xdp/xsk.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "f7019562f142bc041f9cde63af338d1886585923",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "9f0c8a9d4ef1b9ebee0e4ac2495fe790727044aa",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "5.15.127",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "5.15.47",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "5.18",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "5.17.15",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/xdp/xsk.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "5.18"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "5.18",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "5.15.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "5.15.127",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.1.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.1.46",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.4.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.4.11",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.5",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "5.15.127",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.15.47",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.1.46",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.4.11",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.5",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.17.15",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxsk: fix refcount underflow in error path\n\nFix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen\nwhen a system is running out of memory. If xp_alloc_tx_descs() fails,\nand it can only fail due to not having enough memory, then the error\npath is triggered. In this error path, the refcount of the pool is\ndecremented as it has incremented before. However, the reference to\nthe pool in the socket was not nulled. This means that when the socket\nis closed later, the socket teardown logic will think that there is a\npool attached to the socket and try to decrease the refcount again,\nleading to a refcount underflow.\n\nI chose this fix as it involved adding just a single line. Another\noption would have been to move xp_get_pool() and the assignment of\nxs-\u003epool to after the if-statement and using xs_umem-\u003epool instead of\nxs-\u003epool in the whole if-statement resulting in somewhat simpler code,\nbut this would have led to much more churn in the code base perhaps\nmaking it harder to backport."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7.8,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The vulnerability is reached through the AF_XDP `socket()`/`setsockopt()`/`bind()` syscall interface, a purely local kernel API with no network exposure.\nAC:L - The attacker controls both sockets and the Tx-ring allocation size, and can induce memory pressure and recreate the pool to retry, making the required allocation failure inducible and repeatable.\nPR:L - Creating the AF_XDP socket requires CAP_NET_RAW, but this is checked against `net-\u003euser_ns`, so an unprivileged local user obtains it via an unprivileged user+network namespace (`unshare -Urn`).\nUI:N - The attacker performs all socket setup, binding, and teardown steps itself; no action by another user is required.\nS:U - The corruption is confined to the kernel\u0027s own buffer-pool objects within the same security authority; no VM, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary is crossed.\nC:H - The premature free produces a use-after-free of the `xsk_buff_pool`; a reclaimed-and-sprayed allocation lets the attacker read freed-object contents, yielding arbitrary kernel memory disclosure.\nI:H - The use-after-free/double-free of the pool provides a write primitive (dangling refcount and pool fields) exploitable via heap spraying for kernel memory corruption and control-flow hijacking.\nA:H - The refcount underflow frees a pool still in use by another socket, reliably causing use-after-free memory corruption, oops, or panic."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:15:36.147Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d"
        }
      ],
      "title": "xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2023-53698",
    "datePublished": "2025-10-22T13:23:38.384Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-10-22T13:21:37.345Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-15T21:41:33.758Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "epss": {
      "cve": "CVE-2023-53698",
      "date": "2026-10-31",
      "epss": "0.00164",
      "percentile": "0.05578"
    },
    "nvd": {
      "cve": {
        "affected": [
          {
            "affectedData": [
              {
                "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                "product": "Linux",
                "programFiles": [
                  "net/xdp/xsk.c"
                ],
                "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                "vendor": "Linux",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "lessThan": "789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "f7019562f142bc041f9cde63af338d1886585923",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "9f0c8a9d4ef1b9ebee0e4ac2495fe790727044aa",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "5.15.127",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "5.15.47",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "5.18",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "5.17.15",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  }
                ]
              },
              {
                "defaultStatus": "affected",
                "product": "Linux",
                "programFiles": [
                  "net/xdp/xsk.c"
                ],
                "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                "vendor": "Linux",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "5.18"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "5.18",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "0",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "5.15.*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "5.15.127",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "6.1.*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "6.1.46",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "6.4.*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "6.4.11",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "6.5",
                    "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ],
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
          }
        ],
        "cveTags": [],
        "descriptions": [
          {
            "lang": "en",
            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxsk: fix refcount underflow in error path\n\nFix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen\nwhen a system is running out of memory. If xp_alloc_tx_descs() fails,\nand it can only fail due to not having enough memory, then the error\npath is triggered. In this error path, the refcount of the pool is\ndecremented as it has incremented before. However, the reference to\nthe pool in the socket was not nulled. This means that when the socket\nis closed later, the socket teardown logic will think that there is a\npool attached to the socket and try to decrease the refcount again,\nleading to a refcount underflow.\n\nI chose this fix as it involved adding just a single line. Another\noption would have been to move xp_get_pool() and the assignment of\nxs-\u003epool to after the if-statement and using xs_umem-\u003epool instead of\nxs-\u003epool in the whole if-statement resulting in somewhat simpler code,\nbut this would have led to much more churn in the code base perhaps\nmaking it harder to backport."
          },
          {
            "lang": "es",
            "value": "En el kernel de Linux, la siguiente vulnerabilidad ha sido resuelta:\n\nxsk: correcci\u00f3n de desbordamiento negativo del contador de referencias en la ruta de error\n\nCorrige un problema de desbordamiento negativo del contador de referencias reportado por syzbot que puede ocurrir cuando un sistema se queda sin memoria. Si xp_alloc_tx_descs() falla, y solo puede fallar por no tener suficiente memoria, entonces se activa la ruta de error. En esta ruta de error, el contador de referencias del pool se decrementa como se hab\u00eda incrementado antes. Sin embargo, la referencia al pool en el socket no fue anulada. Esto significa que cuando el socket se cierra m\u00e1s tarde, la l\u00f3gica de desmantelamiento del socket pensar\u00e1 que hay un pool adjunto al socket e intentar\u00e1 decrementar el contador de referencias de nuevo, lo que lleva a un desbordamiento negativo del contador de referencias.\n\nEleg\u00ed esta correcci\u00f3n ya que implicaba a\u00f1adir solo una l\u00ednea. Otra opci\u00f3n habr\u00eda sido mover xp_get_pool() y la asignaci\u00f3n de xs  -\u003e  pool a despu\u00e9s de la sentencia if y usar xs_umem  -\u003e  pool en lugar de xs  -\u003e  pool en toda la sentencia if, lo que resultar\u00eda en un c\u00f3digo algo m\u00e1s simple, pero esto habr\u00eda provocado mucha m\u00e1s agitaci\u00f3n en la base de c\u00f3digo, quiz\u00e1s dificultando su retroportaci\u00f3n."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2023-53698",
        "lastModified": "2026-10-28T19:10:00.193",
        "metrics": {
          "cvssMetricV31": [
            {
              "cvssData": {
                "attackComplexity": "LOW",
                "attackVector": "LOCAL",
                "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
                "baseScore": 7.8,
                "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
                "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
                "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
                "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
                "scope": "UNCHANGED",
                "userInteraction": "NONE",
                "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
                "version": "3.1"
              },
              "exploitabilityScore": 1.8,
              "impactScore": 5.9,
              "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
              "type": "Secondary"
            }
          ],
          "ssvcV203": [
            {
              "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
              "ssvcData": {
                "id": "CVE-2023-53698",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "technicalImpact": "total"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-10-15T21:36:35.978263Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              }
            }
          ]
        },
        "published": "2025-10-22T14:15:44.330",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777"
          },
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072"
          },
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3"
          },
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d"
          }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "vulnStatus": "Deferred"
      }
    },
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-08-04T19:15:27+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2023-53698",
      "id": "CVE-2023-53698",
      "initial_release_date": "2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:fixed": "120",
      "product_status:known_affected": "124",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "118",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2023/cve-2023-53698.json",
      "version": "3"
    },
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "low",
      "current_release_date": "2026-10-16T13:22:15Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2023-53698",
      "id": "CVE-2023-53698",
      "initial_release_date": "2025-10-22T23:59:19Z",
      "product_status:known_affected": "461",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "329",
      "product_status:recommended": "330",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2023-53698",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/2025/cve-2023-53698.json",
      "version": "45"
    },
    "vulnrichment": {
      "containers": {
        "adp": [
          {
            "metrics": [
              {
                "other": {
                  "content": {
                    "id": "CVE-2023-53698",
                    "options": [
                      {
                        "Exploitation": "none"
                      },
                      {
                        "Automatable": "no"
                      },
                      {
                        "Technical Impact": "total"
                      }
                    ],
                    "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                    "timestamp": "2026-10-15T21:36:35.978263Z",
                    "version": "2.0.3"
                  },
                  "type": "ssvc"
                }
              }
            ],
            "providerMetadata": {
              "dateUpdated": "2026-10-15T21:36:36.696Z",
              "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
              "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
            },
            "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
          }
        ],
        "cna": {
          "affected": [
            {
              "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
              "product": "Linux",
              "programFiles": [
                "net/xdp/xsk.c"
              ],
              "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
              "vendor": "Linux",
              "versions": [
                {
                  "lessThan": "789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3",
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "f7019562f142bc041f9cde63af338d1886585923",
                  "versionType": "git"
                },
                {
                  "lessThan": "15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777",
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
                  "versionType": "git"
                },
                {
                  "lessThan": "3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072",
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
                  "versionType": "git"
                },
                {
                  "lessThan": "85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d",
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e",
                  "versionType": "git"
                },
                {
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "9f0c8a9d4ef1b9ebee0e4ac2495fe790727044aa",
                  "versionType": "git"
                },
                {
                  "lessThan": "5.15.127",
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "5.15.47",
                  "versionType": "semver"
                },
                {
                  "lessThan": "5.18",
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "5.17.15",
                  "versionType": "semver"
                }
              ]
            },
            {
              "defaultStatus": "affected",
              "product": "Linux",
              "programFiles": [
                "net/xdp/xsk.c"
              ],
              "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
              "vendor": "Linux",
              "versions": [
                {
                  "status": "affected",
                  "version": "5.18"
                },
                {
                  "lessThan": "5.18",
                  "status": "unaffected",
                  "version": "0",
                  "versionType": "semver"
                },
                {
                  "lessThanOrEqual": "5.15.*",
                  "status": "unaffected",
                  "version": "5.15.127",
                  "versionType": "semver"
                },
                {
                  "lessThanOrEqual": "6.1.*",
                  "status": "unaffected",
                  "version": "6.1.46",
                  "versionType": "semver"
                },
                {
                  "lessThanOrEqual": "6.4.*",
                  "status": "unaffected",
                  "version": "6.4.11",
                  "versionType": "semver"
                },
                {
                  "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
                  "status": "unaffected",
                  "version": "6.5",
                  "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "cpeApplicability": [
            {
              "nodes": [
                {
                  "cpeMatch": [
                    {
                      "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                      "versionEndExcluding": "5.15.127",
                      "versionStartIncluding": "5.15.47",
                      "vulnerable": true
                    },
                    {
                      "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                      "versionEndExcluding": "6.1.46",
                      "versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
                      "vulnerable": true
                    },
                    {
                      "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                      "versionEndExcluding": "6.4.11",
                      "versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
                      "vulnerable": true
                    },
                    {
                      "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                      "versionEndExcluding": "6.5",
                      "versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
                      "vulnerable": true
                    },
                    {
                      "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                      "versionStartIncluding": "5.17.15",
                      "vulnerable": true
                    }
                  ],
                  "negate": false,
                  "operator": "OR"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxsk: fix refcount underflow in error path\n\nFix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen\nwhen a system is running out of memory. If xp_alloc_tx_descs() fails,\nand it can only fail due to not having enough memory, then the error\npath is triggered. In this error path, the refcount of the pool is\ndecremented as it has incremented before. However, the reference to\nthe pool in the socket was not nulled. This means that when the socket\nis closed later, the socket teardown logic will think that there is a\npool attached to the socket and try to decrease the refcount again,\nleading to a refcount underflow.\n\nI chose this fix as it involved adding just a single line. Another\noption would have been to move xp_get_pool() and the assignment of\nxs-\u003epool to after the if-statement and using xs_umem-\u003epool instead of\nxs-\u003epool in the whole if-statement resulting in somewhat simpler code,\nbut this would have led to much more churn in the code base perhaps\nmaking it harder to backport."
            }
          ],
          "metrics": [
            {
              "cvssV3_1": {
                "baseScore": 7.8,
                "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
                "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
                "version": "3.1"
              },
              "scenarios": [
                {
                  "lang": "en",
                  "value": "AV:L - The vulnerability is reached through the AF_XDP `socket()`/`setsockopt()`/`bind()` syscall interface, a purely local kernel API with no network exposure.\nAC:L - The attacker controls both sockets and the Tx-ring allocation size, and can induce memory pressure and recreate the pool to retry, making the required allocation failure inducible and repeatable.\nPR:L - Creating the AF_XDP socket requires CAP_NET_RAW, but this is checked against `net-\u003euser_ns`, so an unprivileged local user obtains it via an unprivileged user+network namespace (`unshare -Urn`).\nUI:N - The attacker performs all socket setup, binding, and teardown steps itself; no action by another user is required.\nS:U - The corruption is confined to the kernel\u0027s own buffer-pool objects within the same security authority; no VM, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary is crossed.\nC:H - The premature free produces a use-after-free of the `xsk_buff_pool`; a reclaimed-and-sprayed allocation lets the attacker read freed-object contents, yielding arbitrary kernel memory disclosure.\nI:H - The use-after-free/double-free of the pool provides a write primitive (dangling refcount and pool fields) exploitable via heap spraying for kernel memory corruption and control-flow hijacking.\nA:H - The refcount underflow frees a pool still in use by another socket, reliably causing use-after-free memory corruption, oops, or panic."
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "providerMetadata": {
            "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:15:36.147Z",
            "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "shortName": "Linux"
          },
          "references": [
            {
              "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3"
            },
            {
              "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777"
            },
            {
              "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072"
            },
            {
              "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d"
            }
          ],
          "title": "xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path",
          "x_generator": {
            "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
          }
        }
      },
      "cveMetadata": {
        "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "assignerShortName": "Linux",
        "cveId": "CVE-2023-53698",
        "datePublished": "2025-10-22T13:23:38.384Z",
        "dateReserved": "2025-10-22T13:21:37.345Z",
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-15T21:41:33.758Z",
        "state": "PUBLISHED"
      },
      "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
      "dataVersion": "5.2"
    }
  }
}



Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Drag nodes to arrange them. Double-click a related vulnerability to open it, or a source to visit its link. The Physics button on the left tunes the layout and the simulation; the legend at the bottom left hides or shows nodes by kind and by sighting type.

Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Vulnerability timeline

Sightings and recorded dates, grouped by day · UTC

JSON
How durations are calculated

Following the VTEM framework (Black Hat USA 2015), time to patch starts when the vendor or a coordinator was informed, total time to patch at discovery, and disclosure to patch at public disclosure; vendor response time runs from the report to its acknowledgement. Time to exploit and time unpatched start at the earliest discovery or report, falling back to public disclosure. Unpatched time ends at the first recorded patch, or the calculation time when no patch is recorded. Exploitation to patch shows the interval between those two events; a published proof of concept is a public exploit, not exploitation.

Each result shows its source dates. A negative interval means the end event came first; when date-only inputs leave the order open, the result says so. Date-only inputs are approximate. The earliest evidence wins: KEV report dates and sightings are labelled as such. Records describing another vulnerability are listed but never calculated from, and a PoC alone does not establish exploitation. Missing patch evidence does not prove that no patch exists. Filters below change the event list only.

Loading timeline…




    Related by attack behaviour

    Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.