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TI-2023-29986 Aliases CVE-2023-53698GHSA-f7vc-g3xh-9xx2

xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path

Priority LOW 35Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 2 fixed, 2 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

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.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00164 5th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.15.127, 5.18, 6.1.46 +2Red Hat: 1 advisoryRed Hat: 2 fixed, 2 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux5.15.47 to before 5.15.127; 5.17.15 to before 5.185.15.127, 5.18Patch availableCNA
LinuxLinux5.18 and later5.15.127, 6.1.46, 6.4.11, 6.5Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.15.47 to before 5.15.127; 5.17.15 to before 5.18 Fixed in 5.15.127, 5.18 Patch available CNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.18 and later Fixed in 5.15.127, 6.1.46, 6.4.11, 6.5 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.127, 5.18
  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.127, 6.1.46, 6.4.11, 6.5

Red Hat 1 advisory

  • RHSA-2024:3138 Released 2024-05-22 · Red Hat rating Moderate
    kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-553.el8_10, kernel-4.18.0-553.el8_10, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-553.el8_10 +19
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-553.el8_10

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8)Fixed RHSA-2024:3138
Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8)Fixed RHSA-2024:3138
Not affected: 3 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-53698
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-f7vc-g3xh-9xx2
  3. 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed

References

Other 4

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
See all 21741 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences