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High · 7.8 CVE-2023-53836 EUVD-2023-60160GHSA-hvcx-h3h8-m36g

bpf, sockmap: Fix skb refcnt race after locking changes

Published Dec 9, 2025 · Updated Oct 15, 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-aws-fips 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-azure-fips 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-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-5.8 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:

bpf, sockmap: Fix skb refcnt race after locking changes

There is a race where skb's from the sk_psock_backlog can be referenced
after userspace side has already skb_consumed() the sk_buff and its refcnt
dropped to zer0 causing use after free.

The flow is the following:

while ((skb = skb_peek(&psock->ingress_skb))
sk_psock_handle_Skb(psock, skb, ..., ingress)
if (!ingress) ...
sk_psock_skb_ingress
sk_psock_skb_ingress_enqueue(skb)
msg->skb = skb
sk_psock_queue_msg(psock, msg)
skb_dequeue(&psock->ingress_skb)

The sk_psock_queue_msg() puts the msg on the ingress_msg queue. This is
what the application reads when recvmsg() is called. An application can
read this anytime after the msg is placed on the queue. The recvmsg hook
will also read msg->skb and then after user space reads the msg will call
consume_skb(skb) on it effectively free'ing it.

But, the race is in above where backlog queue still has a reference to
the skb and calls skb_dequeue(). If the skb_dequeue happens after the
user reads and free's the skb we have a use after free.

The !ingress case does not suffer from this problem because it uses
sendmsg_*(sk, msg) which does not pass the sk_buff further down the
stack.

The following splat was observed with 'test_progs -t sockmap_listen':

[ 1022.710250][ T2556] general protection fault, ...
[...]
[ 1022.712830][ T2556] Workqueue: events sk_psock_backlog
[ 1022.713262][ T2556] RIP: 0010:skb_dequeue+0x4c/0x80
[ 1022.713653][ T2556] Code: ...
[...]
[ 1022.720699][ T2556] Call Trace:
[ 1022.720984][ T2556] <TASK>
[ 1022.721254][ T2556] ? die_addr+0x32/0x80^M
[ 1022.721589][ T2556] ? exc_general_protection+0x25a/0x4b0
[ 1022.722026][ T2556] ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x22/0x30
[ 1022.722489][ T2556] ? skb_dequeue+0x4c/0x80
[ 1022.722854][ T2556] sk_psock_backlog+0x27a/0x300
[ 1022.723243][ T2556] process_one_work+0x2a7/0x5b0
[ 1022.723633][ T2556] worker_thread+0x4f/0x3a0
[ 1022.723998][ T2556] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10
[ 1022.724386][ T2556] kthread+0xfd/0x130
[ 1022.724709][ T2556] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[ 1022.725066][ T2556] ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x50
[ 1022.725409][ T2556] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[ 1022.725799][ T2556] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30
[ 1022.726201][ T2556] </TASK>

To fix we add an skb_get() before passing the skb to be enqueued in the
engress queue. This bumps the skb->users refcnt so that consume_skb()
and kfree_skb will not immediately free the sk_buff. With this we can
be sure the skb is still around when we do the dequeue. Then we just
need to decrement the refcnt or free the skb in the backlog case which
we do by calling kfree_skb() on the ingress case as well as the sendmsg
case.

Before locking change from fixes tag we had the sock locked so we
couldn't race with user and there was no issue here.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.13 5.15.189

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 6.5.6-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.5.6-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.55-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.15.0-1076.78 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv +10 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +1 5.15.0-156.166 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws 5.15.0-1092.99 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure 5.15.0-1096.105 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 5.15.0-1096.105.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.15.0-1092.101 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gke 5.15.0-1089.95 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.15.0-1075.83 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm +1 5.15.0-1086.89 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg 5.15.0-1087.93 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-kvm 5.15.0-1088.93 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia 5.15.0-1087.88 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 5.15.0-1045.45 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 5.15.0-1034.34 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.15.0-1090.96 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 5.15.0-1056.60 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 5 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 5.15.0-1085.87 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime 5.15.0-1092.101 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 5.15.0-1092.99+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 5.15.0-1096.105+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips 5.15.0-156.166+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 5.15.0-1092.101+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-aws-5.15 5.15.0-1092.99~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-azure-5.15 5.15.0-1096.105~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.15 5.15.0-1092.101~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.15 +1 5.15.0-156.166~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-ibm-5.15 5.15.0-1086.89~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1087.93~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 5.15.0-1045.45~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.15 5.15.0-1090.96~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-riscv-5.15 5.15.0-1087.91~20.04.1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-64kb +6 6.4.0-150700.53.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0315-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150700.20.24.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0281-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150700.53.28.1.150700.17.19.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0315-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-64kb +6 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
Show 6 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP6 kernel-docs +4 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-39.1.21.16 SUSE-SU-2026:20498-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-40.1 SUSE-SU-2026:20876-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-39.1 SUSE-SU-2026:20498-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-39.1.21.16 SUSE-SU-2026:20477-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-40.1 SUSE-SU-2026:20845-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-39.1 SUSE-SU-2026:20477-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-default 6.4.0-150700.53.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0315-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_8 1-150700.1.3.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0278-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_8 1-150700.15.3.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0315-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_19 1-150600.13.3.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-rt +2 6.4.0-150700.7.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0278-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 +10 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.55-75.123 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-356
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +12 6.1.55-75.123.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-356

Advisories 10

References