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Unscored CVE-2023-53798 EUVD-2023-60108GHSA-rhrj-6hqh-9pgr

ethtool: Fix uninitialized number of lanes

Published Dec 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 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-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure 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-5.8 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-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp 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-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 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-5.8 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-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 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-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 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-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi 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-6.14 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:

ethtool: Fix uninitialized number of lanes

It is not possible to set the number of lanes when setting link modes
using the legacy IOCTL ethtool interface. Since 'struct
ethtool_link_ksettings' is not initialized in this path, drivers receive
an uninitialized number of lanes in 'struct
ethtool_link_ksettings::lanes'.

When this information is later queried from drivers, it results in the
ethtool code making decisions based on uninitialized memory, leading to
the following KMSAN splat [1]. In practice, this most likely only
happens with the tun driver that simply returns whatever it got in the
set operation.

As far as I can tell, this uninitialized memory is not leaked to user
space thanks to the 'ethtool_ops->cap_link_lanes_supported' check in
linkmodes_prepare_data().

Fix by initializing the structure in the IOCTL path. Did not find any
more call sites that pass an uninitialized structure when calling
'ethtool_ops::set_link_ksettings()'.

[1]
BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in ethnl_update_linkmodes net/ethtool/linkmodes.c:273 [inline]
BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in ethnl_set_linkmodes+0x190b/0x19d0 net/ethtool/linkmodes.c:333
ethnl_update_linkmodes net/ethtool/linkmodes.c:273 [inline]
ethnl_set_linkmodes+0x190b/0x19d0 net/ethtool/linkmodes.c:333
ethnl_default_set_doit+0x88d/0xde0 net/ethtool/netlink.c:640
genl_family_rcv_msg_doit net/netlink/genetlink.c:968 [inline]
genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1048 [inline]
genl_rcv_msg+0x141a/0x14c0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1065
netlink_rcv_skb+0x3f8/0x750 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2577
genl_rcv+0x40/0x60 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1076
netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1339 [inline]
netlink_unicast+0xf41/0x1270 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1365
netlink_sendmsg+0x127d/0x1430 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1942
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:724 [inline]
sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:747 [inline]
____sys_sendmsg+0xa24/0xe40 net/socket.c:2501
___sys_sendmsg+0x2a1/0x3f0 net/socket.c:2555
__sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]
__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2593 [inline]
__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2591 [inline]
__x64_sys_sendmsg+0x36b/0x540 net/socket.c:2591
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Uninit was stored to memory at:
tun_get_link_ksettings+0x37/0x60 drivers/net/tun.c:3544
__ethtool_get_link_ksettings+0x17b/0x260 net/ethtool/ioctl.c:441
ethnl_set_linkmodes+0xee/0x19d0 net/ethtool/linkmodes.c:327
ethnl_default_set_doit+0x88d/0xde0 net/ethtool/netlink.c:640
genl_family_rcv_msg_doit net/netlink/genetlink.c:968 [inline]
genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1048 [inline]
genl_rcv_msg+0x141a/0x14c0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1065
netlink_rcv_skb+0x3f8/0x750 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2577
genl_rcv+0x40/0x60 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1076
netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1339 [inline]
netlink_unicast+0xf41/0x1270 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1365
netlink_sendmsg+0x127d/0x1430 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1942
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:724 [inline]
sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:747 [inline]
____sys_sendmsg+0xa24/0xe40 net/socket.c:2501
___sys_sendmsg+0x2a1/0x3f0 net/socket.c:2555
__sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]
__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2593 [inline]
__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2591 [inline]
__x64_sys_sendmsg+0x36b/0x540 net/socket.c:2591
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Uninit was stored to memory at:
tun_set_link_ksettings+0x37/0x60 drivers/net/tun.c:3553
ethtool_set_link_ksettings+0x600/0x690 net/ethtool/ioctl.c:609
__dev_ethtool net/ethtool/ioctl.c:3024 [inline]
dev_ethtool+0x1db9/0x2a70 net/ethtool/ioctl.c:3078
dev_ioctl+0xb07/0x1270 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:524
sock_do_ioctl+0x295/0x540 net/socket.c:1213
sock_i
---truncated---

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.12 5.15.112

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 6.3.7-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.3.7-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.37-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.15.0-1023.25 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv +10 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +1 5.15.0-83.92 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws 5.15.0-1044.49 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure 5.15.0-1046.53 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 5.15.0-1046.53.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.15.0-1041.49 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gke +1 5.15.0-1041.46 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.15.0-1027.32 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm +1 5.15.0-1037.40 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg 5.15.0-1039.45 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia 5.15.0-1032.32 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 5.15.0-1017.17 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 5.15.0-1004.4 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.15.0-1042.48 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 5.15.0-1025.29 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-aws-5.15 5.15.0-1044.49~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-azure-5.15 5.15.0-1046.53~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.15 5.15.0-1041.49~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.15 +1 5.15.0-83.92~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-ibm-5.15 5.15.0-1037.40~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1040.46~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 5.15.0-1017.17~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.15 5.15.0-1042.48~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-riscv-5.15 5.15.0-1040.44~20.04.3 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 3 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 5.15.0-1038.40 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime 5.15.0-1045.50 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 8 perf +26 4.18.0-553.el8_10 RHSA-2024:3138

Rocky Linux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Rocky Linux 8 kernel 4.18.0-553.123.1.el8_10.cloud.0.1 RXSA-2024:3138

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.29-47.49 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-184
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +12 6.1.29-47.49.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-184

Advisories 4

References