Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52610

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.148 / 6.1.75 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_ct: fix skb leak and crash on ooo frags act_ct adds skb->users before defragmentation. If frags arrive in order, the last frag's reference is reset in: inet_frag_reasm_prepare skb_morph which is not straightforward. However when frags arrive out of order, nobody unref the last frag, and all frags are leaked. The situation is even worse, as initiating packet capture can lead to a crash[0] when skb has been cloned and shared at the same time. Fix the issue by removing skb_get() before defragmentation. act_ct returns TC_ACT_CONSUMED when defrag failed or in progress. [0]: [ 843.804823] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 843.809659] kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:2091! [ 843.814516] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 843.819296] CPU: 7 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/7 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S 6.7.0-rc3 #2 [ 843.824107] Hardware name: XFUSION 1288H V6/BC13MBSBD, BIOS 1.29 11/25/2022 [ 843.828953] RIP: 0010:pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300 [ 843.833805] Code: 8b 70 28 48 85 f6 74 82 48 83 c6 08 bf 01 00 00 00 e8 38 bd ff ff 8b 83 c0 00 00 00 48 03 83 c8 00 00 00 e9 62 ff ff ff 0f 0b <0f> 0b e8 8d d0 ff ff e9 b3 fd ff ff 81 7c 24 14 40 01 00 00 4c 89 [ 843.843698] RSP: 0018:ffffc9000cce07c0 EFLAGS: 00010202 [ 843.848524] RAX: 0000000000000002 RBX: ffff88811a211d00 RCX: 0000000000000820 [ 843.853299] RDX: 0000000000000640 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff88811a211d00 [ 843.857974] RBP: ffff888127d39518 R08: 00000000bee97314 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 843.862584] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffff8881109f0000 R12: 0000000000000880 [ 843.867147] R13: ffff888127d39580 R14: 0000000000000640 R15: ffff888170f7b900 [ 843.871680] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff889ffffc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 843.876242] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 843.880778] CR2: 00007fa42affcfb8 CR3: 000000011433a002 CR4: 0000000000770ef0 [ 843.885336] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 843.889809] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 843.894229] PKRU: 55555554 [ 843.898539] Call Trace: [ 843.902772] <IRQ> [ 843.906922] ? __die_body+0x1e/0x60 [ 843.911032] ? die+0x3c/0x60 [ 843.915037] ? do_trap+0xe2/0x110 [ 843.918911] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300 [ 843.922687] ? do_error_trap+0x65/0x80 [ 843.926342] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300 [ 843.929905] ? exc_invalid_op+0x50/0x60 [ 843.933398] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300 [ 843.936835] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20 [ 843.940226] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300 [ 843.943580] inet_frag_reasm_prepare+0xd1/0x240 [ 843.946904] ip_defrag+0x5d4/0x870 [ 843.950132] nf_ct_handle_fragments+0xec/0x130 [nf_conntrack] [ 843.953334] tcf_ct_act+0x252/0xd90 [act_ct] [ 843.956473] ? tcf_mirred_act+0x516/0x5a0 [act_mirred] [ 843.959657] tcf_action_exec+0xa1/0x160 [ 843.962823] fl_classify+0x1db/0x1f0 [cls_flower] [ 843.966010] ? skb_clone+0x53/0xc0 [ 843.969173] tcf_classify+0x24d/0x420 [ 843.972333] tc_run+0x8f/0xf0 [ 843.975465] __netif_receive_skb_core+0x67a/0x1080 [ 843.978634] ? dev_gro_receive+0x249/0x730 [ 843.981759] __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x12d/0x260 [ 843.984869] netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1cb/0x2f0 [ 843.987957] ? mlx5e_handle_rx_cqe_mpwrq_rep+0xfa/0x1a0 [mlx5_core] [ 843.991170] napi_complete_done+0x72/0x1a0 [ 843.994305] mlx5e_napi_poll+0x28c/0x6d0 [mlx5_core] [ 843.997501] __napi_poll+0x25/0x1b0 [ 844.000627] net_rx_action+0x256/0x330 [ 844.003705] __do_softirq+0xb3/0x29b [ 844.006718] irq_exit_rcu+0x9e/0xc0 [ 844.009672] common_interrupt+0x86/0xa0 [ 844.012537] </IRQ> [ 844.015285] <TASK> [ 844.017937] asm_common_interrupt+0x26/0x40 [ 844.020591] RIP: 0010:acpi_safe_halt+0x1b/0x20 [ 844.023247] Code: ff 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 65 48 8b 04 25 00 18 03 00 48 8b 00 a8 08 75 0c 66 90 0f 00 2d 81 d0 44 00 fb ---truncated---

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 5.3, < 5.15.148>= 5.16, < 6.1.75>= 6.2, < 6.6.14>= 6.7, < 6.7.2

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.15.148 / 6.1.75 / 6.6.14 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1486.1.756.6.14
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.15.148+, 6.1.75+, 6.6.14+, or 6.7.2+ (depending on which stable branch you are on)

  1. 1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Determine which stable branch is applicable based on your current version (5.15.x, 6.1.x, 6.2.x-6.6.x, or 6.7.x)
  3. 3. Upgrade to the fixed kernel version: 5.15.148 or higher, 6.1.75 or higher, 6.6.14 or higher, or 6.7.2 or higher
  4. 4. Use the appropriate package manager or kernel build process for your distribution to install the updated kernel
  5. 5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. 6. Verify the new kernel is running with 'uname -r' and confirm the version includes the fix
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuild of out-of-tree kernel modules; ensure any proprietary drivers (like NVIDIA graphics or third-party network drivers) are compatible with the new kernel before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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Free · runs locally
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52610 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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