CVE-2023-53354CWE-476

CVE-2023-53354

High · published September 17, 2025

CVSS v3.1
7.8
EPSS
0%
Percentile
9.9
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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

skbuff: skb_segment, Call zero copy functions before using skbuff frags

Commit bf5c25d60861 ("skbuff: in skb_segment, call zerocopy functions

once per nskb") added the call to zero copy functions in skb_segment().

The change introduced a bug in skb_segment() because skb_orphan_frags()

may possibly change the number of fragments or allocate new fragments

altogether leaving nrfrags and frag to point to the old values. This can

cause a panic with stacktrace like the one below.

[ 193.894380] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000bc

[ 193.895273] CPU: 13 PID: 18164 Comm: vh-net-17428 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G O 5.15.123+ #26

[ 193.903919] RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0xb0e/0x12f0

[ 194.021892] Call Trace:

[ 194.027422] <TASK>

[ 194.072861] tcp_gso_segment+0x107/0x540

[ 194.082031] inet_gso_segment+0x15c/0x3d0

[ 194.090783] skb_mac_gso_segment+0x9f/0x110

[ 194.095016] __skb_gso_segment+0xc1/0x190

[ 194.103131] netem_enqueue+0x290/0xb10 [sch_netem]

[ 194.107071] dev_qdisc_enqueue+0x16/0x70

[ 194.110884] __dev_queue_xmit+0x63b/0xb30

[ 194.121670] bond_start_xmit+0x159/0x380 [bonding]

[ 194.128506] dev_hard_start_xmit+0xc3/0x1e0

[ 194.131787] __dev_queue_xmit+0x8a0/0xb30

[ 194.138225] macvlan_start_xmit+0x4f/0x100 [macvlan]

[ 194.141477] dev_hard_start_xmit+0xc3/0x1e0

[ 194.144622] sch_direct_xmit+0xe3/0x280

[ 194.147748] __dev_queue_xmit+0x54a/0xb30

[ 194.154131] tap_get_user+0x2a8/0x9c0 [tap]

[ 194.157358] tap_sendmsg+0x52/0x8e0 [tap]

[ 194.167049] handle_tx_zerocopy+0x14e/0x4c0 [vhost_net]

[ 194.173631] handle_tx+0xcd/0xe0 [vhost_net]

[ 194.176959] vhost_worker+0x76/0xb0 [vhost]

[ 194.183667] kthread+0x118/0x140

[ 194.190358] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30

[ 194.193670] </TASK>

In this case calling skb_orphan_frags() updated nr_frags leaving nrfrags

local variable in skb_segment() stale. This resulted in the code hitting

i >= nrfrags prematurely and trying to move to next frag_skb using

list_skb pointer, which was NULL, and caused kernel panic. Move the call

to zero copy functions before using frags and nr_frags.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.8 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00205 · 9.9th percentile
Weakness
CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference
Published
2025-09-17T19:15Z
Affected products (7)
ProductVersionsFixed in
linux/linux_kernel≥ 4.16, < 4.19.2954.19.295
linux/linux_kernel≥ 4.20, < 5.4.2575.4.257
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.5, < 5.10.1955.10.195
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.11, < 5.15.1325.15.132
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.16, < 6.1.536.1.53
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.2, < 6.4.166.4.16
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.5, < 6.5.36.5.3
References (8)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 17 SEP 14:56Z
    skbuff: skb_segment, Call zero copy functions before using skbuff frags
    cvelistv5