CVE-2023-2593
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA flaw exists within the Linux kernel's handling of new TCP connections. The issue results from the lack of memory release after its effective lifetime. This vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to create a denial of service condition on the system.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceA memory leak exists in the Linux kernel's TCP connection handling code. When new TCP connections are processed, memory allocated for connection tracking or related structures is not properly released after the connection's lifetime ends. Over time, this accumulation of unreleased memory exhausts system resources, leading to denial of service. An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger the vulnerability by establishing TCP connections to the target system.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check kernel versionRun 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version' to obtain your running kernel version. Compare this against any official security advisories or CVE databases listing the fixed version for CVE-2023-2593.Affected if Your kernel version is older than the version that includes the fix for CVE-2023-2593.
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Verify connection tracking is enabledRun 'lsmod | grep nf_conntrack' or check 'cat /proc/net/nf_conntrack' to see if the connection tracking module is loaded and active.Affected if Connection tracking (nf_conntrack) is loaded and tracking TCP connections.
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Confirm network exposure to unauthenticated TCP connectionsReview firewall rules (iptables -L -n, ufw status, or similar) and exposed network services to determine if TCP ports are accessible to unauthenticated remote attackers.Affected if TCP services are exposed to unauthenticated remote attackers without additional access controls.
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Monitor for memory accumulation in connection tracking structuresRun 'cat /proc/meminfo' and observe slab or conntrack memory usage over time, or use 'conntrack -L' to list tracked connections and check for growing connection counts that do not clean up.Affected if Memory used by connection tracking continuously grows or connections are not being released after they close.
You are affected if your system runs a vulnerable Linux kernel version, has connection tracking enabled, and has TCP services exposed to unauthenticated remote attackers.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the upstream Linux kernel patch or update to a kernel version that includes the fix for CVE-2023-2593. In production environments, consider implementing connection limits or rate limiting on exposed TCP services as a temporary workaround until the kernel update can be applied.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-2593 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-2593 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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