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Unscored CVE-2023-53188 EUVD-2023-59788GHSA-j5c6-h3mg-24rj

net: openvswitch: fix race on port output

Published Sep 15, 2025 · Updated Nov 5, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-4.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-iot Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-lts-xenial Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

net: openvswitch: fix race on port output

assume the following setup on a single machine:
1. An openvswitch instance with one bridge and default flows
2. two network namespaces "server" and "client"
3. two ovs interfaces "server" and "client" on the bridge
4. for each ovs interface a veth pair with a matching name and 32 rx and
tx queues
5. move the ends of the veth pairs to the respective network namespaces
6. assign ip addresses to each of the veth ends in the namespaces (needs
to be the same subnet)
7. start some http server on the server network namespace
8. test if a client in the client namespace can reach the http server

when following the actions below the host has a chance of getting a cpu
stuck in a infinite loop:
1. send a large amount of parallel requests to the http server (around
3000 curls should work)
2. in parallel delete the network namespace (do not delete interfaces or
stop the server, just kill the namespace)

there is a low chance that this will cause the below kernel cpu stuck
message. If this does not happen just retry.
Below there is also the output of bpftrace for the functions mentioned
in the output.

The series of events happening here is:
1. the network namespace is deleted calling
`unregister_netdevice_many_notify` somewhere in the process
2. this sets first `NETREG_UNREGISTERING` on both ends of the veth and
then runs `synchronize_net`
3. it then calls `call_netdevice_notifiers` with `NETDEV_UNREGISTER`
4. this is then handled by `dp_device_event` which calls
`ovs_netdev_detach_dev` (if a vport is found, which is the case for
the veth interface attached to ovs)
5. this removes the rx_handlers of the device but does not prevent
packages to be sent to the device
6. `dp_device_event` then queues the vport deletion to work in
background as a ovs_lock is needed that we do not hold in the
unregistration path
7. `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` continues to call
`netdev_unregister_kobject` which sets `real_num_tx_queues` to 0
8. port deletion continues (but details are not relevant for this issue)
9. at some future point the background task deletes the vport

If after 7. but before 9. a packet is send to the ovs vport (which is
not deleted at this point in time) which forwards it to the
`dev_queue_xmit` flow even though the device is unregistering.
In `skb_tx_hash` (which is called in the `dev_queue_xmit`) path there is
a while loop (if the packet has a rx_queue recorded) that is infinite if
`dev->real_num_tx_queues` is zero.

To prevent this from happening we update `do_output` to handle devices
without carrier the same as if the device is not found (which would
be the code path after 9. is done).

Additionally we now produce a warning in `skb_tx_hash` if we will hit
the infinite loop.

bpftrace (first word is function name):

__dev_queue_xmit server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1
netdev_core_pick_tx server: addr: 0xffff9f0a46d4a000 real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1
dp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 2, reg_state: 1
synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024
synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024
synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024
synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024
dp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 6, reg_state: 2
ovs_netdev_detach_dev server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2
netdev_rx_handler_unregister server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2
synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024
netdev_rx_handler_unregister ret server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2
dp_
---truncated---

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 4.3 5.4.293

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.1.25-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.1.25-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.25-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.15.0-1019.21 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-intel +9 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +1 5.15.0-144.157 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws 5.15.0-1088.95 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure 5.15.0-1094.103 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 5.15.0-1094.103.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.15.0-1087.96 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gke +1 5.15.0-1085.91 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.15.0-1070.78 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm 5.15.0-1080.83 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg 5.15.0-1083.89 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-kvm 5.15.0-1084.89 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia 5.15.0-1082.83 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 5.15.0-1041.41 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 5.15.0-1030.30 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-raspi 5.15.0-1083.86 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 5.15.0-1052.56 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.4.0-1068.74 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 14 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iot-realtime 5.15.0-1081.83 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime 5.15.0-1088.97 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 5.15.0-1088.95+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 5.15.0-1094.103+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips 5.15.0-144.157+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 5.15.0-1087.96+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +9 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-aws-5.15 5.15.0-1088.95~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-azure-5.15 5.15.0-1094.103~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.15 5.15.0-1087.96~20.04.2 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.15 +1 5.15.0-144.157~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-ibm-5.15 5.15.0-1080.83~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1083.89~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 5.15.0-1041.41~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.15 5.15.0-1085.91~20.04.3 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-riscv-5.15 5.15.0-1083.87~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +12 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux +7 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux-aws +2 No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 9 bpftool 7.2.0-362.8.1.el9_3 RHSA-2023:6583
RHEL 9 rv +64 5.14.0-362.8.1.el9_3 RHSA-2023:6583
RHEL 8 perf +26 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9 RHSA-2023:7077
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 12 SP5 kernel-syms +2 4.12.14-122.280.1 SUSE-SU-2025:4189-1
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLE Live Patching 12 SP5 kernel-default 4.12.14-122.280.1 SUSE-SU-2025:4189-1
SLE Live Patching 12 SP5 kgraft-patch-SLE12-SP5_Update_74 1-8.5.1 SUSE-SU-2025:4189-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.25-37.47 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-169
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +12 6.1.25-37.47.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-169

Advisories 6

References