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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53198

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.19 / 6.1.24 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: raw: Fix NULL deref in raw_get_next(). Dae R. Jeong reported a NULL deref in raw_get_next() [0]. It seems that the repro was running these sequences in parallel so that one thread was iterating on a socket that was being freed in another netns. unshare(0x40060200) r0 = syz_open_procfs(0x0, &(0x7f0000002080)='net/raw\x00') socket$inet_icmp_raw(0x2, 0x3, 0x1) pread64(r0, &(0x7f0000000000)=""/10, 0xa, 0x10000000007f) After commit 0daf07e52709 ("raw: convert raw sockets to RCU"), we use RCU and hlist_nulls_for_each_entry() to iterate over SOCK_RAW sockets. However, we should use spinlock for slow paths to avoid the NULL deref. Also, SOCK_RAW does not use SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU, and the slab object is not reused during iteration in the grace period. In fact, the lockless readers do not check the nulls marker with get_nulls_value(). So, SOCK_RAW should use hlist instead of hlist_nulls. Instead of adding an unnecessary barrier by sk_nulls_for_each_rcu(), let's convert hlist_nulls to hlist and use sk_for_each_rcu() for fast paths and sk_for_each() and spinlock for /proc/net/raw. [0]: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000005: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000028-0x000000000000002f] CPU: 2 PID: 20952 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.2.0-g048ec869bafd-dirty #7 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:read_pnet include/net/net_namespace.h:383 [inline] RIP: 0010:sock_net include/net/sock.h:649 [inline] RIP: 0010:raw_get_next net/ipv4/raw.c:974 [inline] RIP: 0010:raw_get_idx net/ipv4/raw.c:986 [inline] RIP: 0010:raw_seq_start+0x431/0x800 net/ipv4/raw.c:995 Code: ef e8 33 3d 94 f7 49 8b 6d 00 4c 89 ef e8 b7 65 5f f7 49 89 ed 49 83 c5 98 0f 84 9a 00 00 00 48 83 c5 c8 48 89 e8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 80 3c 30 00 74 08 48 89 ef e8 00 3d 94 f7 4c 8b 7d 00 48 89 ef RSP: 0018:ffffc9001154f9b0 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: 0000000000000005 RBX: 1ffff1100302c8fd RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000028 RSI: ffffc9001154f988 RDI: ffffc9000f77a338 RBP: 0000000000000029 R08: ffffffff8a50ffb4 R09: fffffbfff24b6bd9 R10: fffffbfff24b6bd9 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88801db73b78 R13: fffffffffffffff9 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: 0000000000000030 FS: 00007f843ae8e700(0000) GS:ffff888063700000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000055bb9614b35f CR3: 000000003c672000 CR4: 00000000003506e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> seq_read_iter+0x4c6/0x10f0 fs/seq_file.c:225 seq_read+0x224/0x320 fs/seq_file.c:162 pde_read fs/proc/inode.c:316 [inline] proc_reg_read+0x23f/0x330 fs/proc/inode.c:328 vfs_read+0x31e/0xd30 fs/read_write.c:468 ksys_pread64 fs/read_write.c:665 [inline] __do_sys_pread64 fs/read_write.c:675 [inline] __se_sys_pread64 fs/read_write.c:672 [inline] __x64_sys_pread64+0x1e9/0x280 fs/read_write.c:672 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x4e/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:82 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x478d29 Code: f7 d8 64 89 02 b8 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 bc ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007f843ae8dbe8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000011 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000791408 RCX: 0000000000478d29 RDX: 000000000000000a RSI: 0000000020000000 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00000000f477909a R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 000010000000007f R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000791740 R13: 0000000000791414 R14: 0000000000791408 R15: 00007ffc2eb48a50 </TASK> Modules linked in: ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- RIP: 0010 ---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-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 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:>= 5.18.18, < 5.19>= 5.19.2, < 6.1.24>= 6.2, < 6.2.11= 6.3

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 5.19 / 6.1.24 / 6.2.11 or later
Fixed in 5.196.1.246.2.11
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Kernel 6.1.24+, 6.2.11+, 6.4+, or the next stable release in your respective branch

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
  2. 2. Determine which major kernel release series your current version belongs to (5.18.x, 5.19.x, 6.2.x, or 6.3.x)
  3. 3. For 5.18.x versions (>=5.18.18): Upgrade to kernel 5.19 or later
  4. 4. For 5.19.x versions (>=5.19.2): Upgrade to kernel 6.1.24 or later
  5. 5. For 6.2.x versions (>=6.2.0): Upgrade to kernel 6.2.11 or later
  6. 6. For 6.3.x version: Upgrade to kernel 6.4 or later
  7. 7. Apply the vendor patch commit 0a78cf7264d29abeca098eae0b188a10aabc8a32 if staying on an affected branch: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a78cf7264d29abeca098eae0b188a10aabc8a32
  8. 8. Rebuild and reboot into the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding out-of-tree modules; ensure driver compatibility with the target version

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

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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-2023-53198 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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