Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52889

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-17

Fix available

A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.282 / 5.10.224 or later.

See remediation →

57/100

Remediation priority · Elevated

Zero-click Patch available

Official description

NVD · unedited

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: Fix null pointer deref when receiving skb during sock creation The panic below is observed when receiving ICMP packets with secmark set while an ICMP raw socket is being created. SK_CTX(sk)->label is updated in apparmor_socket_post_create(), but the packet is delivered to the socket before that, causing the null pointer dereference. Drop the packet if label context is not set. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000004c #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 0 PID: 407 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.4.12-arch1-1 #1 3e6fa2753a2d75925c34ecb78e22e85a65d083df Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 05/28/2020 RIP: 0010:aa_label_next_confined+0xb/0x40 Code: 00 00 48 89 ef e8 d5 25 0c 00 e9 66 ff ff ff 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 66 0f 1f 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 89 f0 <8b> 77 4c 39 c6 7e 1f 48 63 d0 48 8d 14 d7 eb 0b 83 c0 01 48 83 c2 RSP: 0018:ffffa92940003b08 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 000000000000000e RDX: ffffa92940003be8 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffff8b57471e7800 R08: ffff8b574c642400 R09: 0000000000000002 R10: ffffffffbd820eeb R11: ffffffffbeb7ff00 R12: ffff8b574c642400 R13: 0000000000000001 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007fb092ea7640(0000) GS:ffff8b577bc00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000000000000004c CR3: 00000001020f2005 CR4: 00000000007706f0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <IRQ> ? __die+0x23/0x70 ? page_fault_oops+0x171/0x4e0 ? exc_page_fault+0x7f/0x180 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 ? aa_label_next_confined+0xb/0x40 apparmor_secmark_check+0xec/0x330 security_sock_rcv_skb+0x35/0x50 sk_filter_trim_cap+0x47/0x250 sock_queue_rcv_skb_reason+0x20/0x60 raw_rcv+0x13c/0x210 raw_local_deliver+0x1f3/0x250 ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x4f/0x2f0 ip_local_deliver_finish+0x76/0xa0 __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x89/0xa0 netif_receive_skb+0x119/0x170 ? __netdev_alloc_skb+0x3d/0x140 vmxnet3_rq_rx_complete+0xb23/0x1010 [vmxnet3 56a84f9c97178c57a43a24ec073b45a9d6f01f3a] vmxnet3_poll_rx_only+0x36/0xb0 [vmxnet3 56a84f9c97178c57a43a24ec073b45a9d6f01f3a] __napi_poll+0x28/0x1b0 net_rx_action+0x2a4/0x380 __do_softirq+0xd1/0x2c8 __irq_exit_rcu+0xbb/0xf0 common_interrupt+0x86/0xa0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_common_interrupt+0x26/0x40 RIP: 0010:apparmor_socket_post_create+0xb/0x200 Code: 08 48 85 ff 75 a1 eb b1 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 f3 0f 1e fa 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 54 <55> 48 89 fd 53 45 85 c0 0f 84 b2 00 00 00 48 8b 1d 80 56 3f 02 48 RSP: 0018:ffffa92940ce7e50 EFLAGS: 00000286 RAX: ffffffffbc756440 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000001 RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: 0000000000000002 RDI: ffff8b574eaab740 RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffff8b57444cec70 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000003 R13: 0000000000000002 R14: ffff8b574eaab740 R15: ffffffffbd8e4748 ? __pfx_apparmor_socket_post_create+0x10/0x10 security_socket_post_create+0x4b/0x80 __sock_create+0x176/0x1f0 __sys_socket+0x89/0x100 __x64_sys_socket+0x17/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x5d/0x90 ? do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x90 ? do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x90 ? do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

Technical summary

dbcve analysis

How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference 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

NVD · CPE data

Linux KernelOperating system

Affected:>= 4.20, < 5.4.282>= 5.5, < 5.10.224>= 5.11, < 5.15.165>= 5.16, < 6.1.103>= 6.2, < 6.6.44>= 6.7, < 6.10.3

CVSS breakdown

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

dbcve · scoped

Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.4.282 / 5.10.224 / 5.15.165 or later

Fixed in 5.4.2825.10.2245.15.165

Vendor patch git.kernel.org →

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel version 5.4.282, 5.10.224, 5.15.165, or 6.1.103 (whichever is the minimum stable release in your version branch)

Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
Check which version range the current kernel falls into: >= 4.20 and < 5.4.282, >= 5.5 and < 5.10.224, >= 5.11 and < 5.15.165, or >= 5.16 and < 6.1.103
Upgrade the Linux kernel to the first stable release in your version branch that includes the fix: for 4.20-5.4.x upgrade to 5.4.282 or later, for 5.5-5.10.x upgrade to 5.10.224 or later, for 5.11-5.15.x upgrade to 5.15.165 or later, or for 5.16-6.1.x upgrade to 6.1.103 or later
Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the patch commit 0abe35bc48d4ec80424b1f4b3560c0e082cbd5c1 is included

Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting production systems; ensure compatibility with existing system configurations and drivers 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 $2,850. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally

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References

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52889 in production — separate from our analysis above.

Notes0 Guidelines

Know something about CVE-2023-52889?

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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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here

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
No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data

At a glance

A fix existsUpgrade to 5.4.282 / 5.10.224 or later

Severity 5.5 Medium

Exploit likelihood EPSS, next 30 days 0.2%

Affects: Linux Kernel

Remediation

Need this fixed?

Get a fix

Estimated effortfrom ~16 hrs

ComplexityComplex

Typical engagementfrom $2,850

What a fix involves

We scope it with you and confirm a fixed quote
A specialist builds a reviewed fix
You deploy it to staging first
Optional re-test once it’s live

We specialise in CVE remediation. Send your environment and we’ll scope CVE-2023-52889 and return a fixed quote.

You’ll deal with our team directly and deploy the reviewed fix to staging first — never straight to production.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Scan for this in your stack

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

Practitioner notes

No notes yet

Official description

Technical summary

Affected products & versions

CVSS breakdown

Remediation

References