CVE-2023-53556CWE-416

CVE-2023-53556

High · published October 4, 2025

CVSS v3.1
7.8
EPSS
0%
Percentile
3.8
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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

iavf: Fix use-after-free in free_netdev

We do netif_napi_add() for all allocated q_vectors[], but potentially

do netif_napi_del() for part of them, then kfree q_vectors and leave

invalid pointers at dev->napi_list.

Reproducer:

[root@host ~]# cat repro.sh

#!/bin/bash

pf_dbsf="0000:41:00.0"

vf0_dbsf="0000:41:02.0"

g_pids=()

function do_set_numvf()

{

echo 2 >/sys/bus/pci/devices/${pf_dbsf}/sriov_numvfs

sleep $((RANDOM%3+1))

echo 0 >/sys/bus/pci/devices/${pf_dbsf}/sriov_numvfs

sleep $((RANDOM%3+1))

}

function do_set_channel()

{

local nic=$(ls -1 --indicator-style=none /sys/bus/pci/devices/${vf0_dbsf}/net/)

[ -z "$nic" ] && { sleep $((RANDOM%3)) ; return 1; }

ifconfig $nic 192.168.18.5 netmask 255.255.255.0

ifconfig $nic up

ethtool -L $nic combined 1

ethtool -L $nic combined 4

sleep $((RANDOM%3))

}

function on_exit()

{

local pid

for pid in "${g_pids[@]}"; do

kill -0 "$pid" &>/dev/null && kill "$pid" &>/dev/null

done

g_pids=()

}

trap "on_exit; exit" EXIT

while :; do do_set_numvf ; done &

g_pids+=($!)

while :; do do_set_channel ; done &

g_pids+=($!)

wait

Result:

[ 4093.900222] ==================================================================

[ 4093.900230] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in free_netdev+0x308/0x390

[ 4093.900232] Read of size 8 at addr ffff88b4dc145640 by task repro.sh/6699

[ 4093.900233]

[ 4093.900236] CPU: 10 PID: 6699 Comm: repro.sh Kdump: loaded Tainted: G O --------- -t - 4.18.0 #1

[ 4093.900238] Hardware name: Powerleader PR2008AL/H12DSi-N6, BIOS 2.0 04/09/2021

[ 4093.900239] Call Trace:

[ 4093.900244] dump_stack+0x71/0xab

[ 4093.900249] print_address_description+0x6b/0x290

[ 4093.900251] ? free_netdev+0x308/0x390

[ 4093.900252] kasan_report+0x14a/0x2b0

[ 4093.900254] free_netdev+0x308/0x390

[ 4093.900261] iavf_remove+0x825/0xd20 [iavf]

[ 4093.900265] pci_device_remove+0xa8/0x1f0

[ 4093.900268] device_release_driver_internal+0x1c6/0x460

[ 4093.900271] pci_stop_bus_device+0x101/0x150

[ 4093.900273] pci_stop_and_remove_bus_device+0xe/0x20

[ 4093.900275] pci_iov_remove_virtfn+0x187/0x420

[ 4093.900277] ? pci_iov_add_virtfn+0xe10/0xe10

[ 4093.900278] ? pci_get_subsys+0x90/0x90

[ 4093.900280] sriov_disable+0xed/0x3e0

[ 4093.900282] ? bus_find_device+0x12d/0x1a0

[ 4093.900290] i40e_free_vfs+0x754/0x1210 [i40e]

[ 4093.900298] ? i40e_reset_all_vfs+0x880/0x880 [i40e]

[ 4093.900299] ? pci_get_device+0x7c/0x90

[ 4093.900300] ? pci_get_subsys+0x90/0x90

[ 4093.900306] ? pci_vfs_assigned.part.7+0x144/0x210

[ 4093.900309] ? __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x10/0x10

[ 4093.900315] i40e_pci_sriov_configure+0x1fa/0x2e0 [i40e]

[ 4093.900318] sriov_numvfs_store+0x214/0x290

[ 4093.900320] ? sriov_totalvfs_show+0x30/0x30

[ 4093.900321] ? __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x10/0x10

[ 4093.900323] ? __check_object_size+0x15a/0x350

[ 4093.900326] kernfs_fop_write+0x280/0x3f0

[ 4093.900329] vfs_write+0x145/0x440

[ 4093.900330] ksys_write+0xab/0x160

[ 4093.900332] ? __ia32_sys_read+0xb0/0xb0

[ 4093.900334] ? fput_many+0x1a/0x120

[ 4093.900335] ? filp_close+0xf0/0x130

[ 4093.900338] do_syscall_64+0xa0/0x370

[ 4093.900339] ? page_fault+0x8/0x30

[ 4093.900341] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x65/0xca

[ 4093.900357] RIP: 0033:0x7f16ad4d22c0

[ 4093.900359] Code: 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d d8 cb 2c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 83 3d 89 24 2d 00 00 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 31 c3 48 83 ec 08 e8 fe dd 01 00 48 89 04 24

[ 4093.900360] RSP: 002b:00007ffd6491b7f8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001

[ 4093.900362] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 00007f16ad4d22c0

[ 4093.900363] RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000001a41408 RDI: 0000000000000001

[ 4093.900364] RBP: 0000000001a41408 R08: 00007f16ad7a1780 R09: 00007f16ae1f2700

[ 4093.9003

---truncated---

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
0.00149 · 3.8th percentile
Weakness
CWE-416 · Use After Free
Published
2025-10-04T20:15Z
Affected products (7)
ProductVersionsFixed in
linux/linux_kernel≥ 3.14, < 5.4.2515.4.251
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.5, < 5.10.1885.10.188
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.11, < 5.15.1235.15.123
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.16, < 6.1.426.1.42
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.2, < 6.4.76.4.7
linux/linux_kernelall versions—
linux/linux_kernelall versions—
References (6)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 04 OCT 15:17Z
    iavf: Fix use-after-free in free_netdev
    cvelistv5