CVE-2023-53188 - Vulnerability Details

Link	Providers
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066b86787fa3d97b7aefb5ac0a99a22dad2d15f8
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/284be5db6c8d06d247ed056cfc448c4f79bbb16c
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56252da41426f3d01957456f13caf46ce670ea29
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5efcb301523baacd98a47553d4996e924923114d
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/644b3051b06ba465bc7401bfae9b14963cbc8c1c
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b0dd09c1ceb35950d2884848099fccc9ec9a123

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
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---
Title		net: openvswitch: fix race on port output
References		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066b86787fa3d97b7aefb5ac0a99a22dad2d15f8 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/284be5db6c8d06d247ed056cfc448c4f79bbb16c https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56252da41426f3d01957456f13caf46ce670ea29 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5efcb301523baacd98a47553d4996e924923114d https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/644b3051b06ba465bc7401bfae9b14963cbc8c1c https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b0dd09c1ceb35950d2884848099fccc9ec9a123

{"dataType": "CVE_RECORD", "dataVersion": "5.1", "cveMetadata": {"cveId": "CVE-2023-53188", "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "state": "PUBLISHED", "assignerShortName": "Linux", "dateReserved": "2025-09-15T13:59:19.066Z", "datePublished": "2025-09-15T14:04:52.248Z", "dateUpdated": "2025-09-15T14:04:52.248Z"}, "containers": {"cna": {"providerMetadata": {"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "shortName": "Linux", "dateUpdated": "2025-09-15T14:04:52.248Z"}, "descriptions": [{"lang": "en", "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: openvswitch: fix race on port output\n\nassume the following setup on a single machine:\n1. An openvswitch instance with one bridge and default flows\n2. two network namespaces \"server\" and \"client\"\n3. two ovs interfaces \"server\" and \"client\" on the bridge\n4. for each ovs interface a veth pair with a matching name and 32 rx and\n tx queues\n5. move the ends of the veth pairs to the respective network namespaces\n6. assign ip addresses to each of the veth ends in the namespaces (needs\n to be the same subnet)\n7. start some http server on the server network namespace\n8. test if a client in the client namespace can reach the http server\n\nwhen following the actions below the host has a chance of getting a cpu\nstuck in a infinite loop:\n1. send a large amount of parallel requests to the http server (around\n 3000 curls should work)\n2. in parallel delete the network namespace (do not delete interfaces or\n stop the server, just kill the namespace)\n\nthere is a low chance that this will cause the below kernel cpu stuck\nmessage. If this does not happen just retry.\nBelow there is also the output of bpftrace for the functions mentioned\nin the output.\n\nThe series of events happening here is:\n1. the network namespace is deleted calling\n `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` somewhere in the process\n2. this sets first `NETREG_UNREGISTERING` on both ends of the veth and\n then runs `synchronize_net`\n3. it then calls `call_netdevice_notifiers` with `NETDEV_UNREGISTER`\n4. this is then handled by `dp_device_event` which calls\n `ovs_netdev_detach_dev` (if a vport is found, which is the case for\n the veth interface attached to ovs)\n5. this removes the rx_handlers of the device but does not prevent\n packages to be sent to the device\n6. `dp_device_event` then queues the vport deletion to work in\n background as a ovs_lock is needed that we do not hold in the\n unregistration path\n7. `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` continues to call\n `netdev_unregister_kobject` which sets `real_num_tx_queues` to 0\n8. port deletion continues (but details are not relevant for this issue)\n9. at some future point the background task deletes the vport\n\nIf after 7. but before 9. a packet is send to the ovs vport (which is\nnot deleted at this point in time) which forwards it to the\n`dev_queue_xmit` flow even though the device is unregistering.\nIn `skb_tx_hash` (which is called in the `dev_queue_xmit`) path there is\na while loop (if the packet has a rx_queue recorded) that is infinite if\n`dev->real_num_tx_queues` is zero.\n\nTo prevent this from happening we update `do_output` to handle devices\nwithout carrier the same as if the device is not found (which would\nbe the code path after 9. is done).\n\nAdditionally we now produce a warning in `skb_tx_hash` if we will hit\nthe infinite loop.\n\nbpftrace (first word is function name):\n\n__dev_queue_xmit server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1\nnetdev_core_pick_tx server: addr: 0xffff9f0a46d4a000 real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1\ndp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 2, reg_state: 1\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\ndp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 6, reg_state: 2\novs_netdev_detach_dev server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2\nnetdev_rx_handler_unregister server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nnetdev_rx_handler_unregister ret server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2\ndp_\n---truncated---"}], "affected": [{"product": "Linux", "vendor": "Linux", "defaultStatus": "unaffected", "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git", "programFiles": ["net/core/dev.c", "net/openvswitch/actions.c"], "versions": [{"version": "7f8a436eaa2c3ddd8e1ff2fbca267e6275085536", "lessThan": "9b0dd09c1ceb35950d2884848099fccc9ec9a123", "status": "affected", "versionType": "git"}, {"version": "7f8a436eaa2c3ddd8e1ff2fbca267e6275085536", "lessThan": "284be5db6c8d06d247ed056cfc448c4f79bbb16c", "status": "affected", "versionType": "git"}, {"version": "7f8a436eaa2c3ddd8e1ff2fbca267e6275085536", "lessThan": "5efcb301523baacd98a47553d4996e924923114d", "status": "affected", "versionType": "git"}, {"version": "7f8a436eaa2c3ddd8e1ff2fbca267e6275085536", "lessThan": "644b3051b06ba465bc7401bfae9b14963cbc8c1c", "status": "affected", "versionType": "git"}, {"version": "7f8a436eaa2c3ddd8e1ff2fbca267e6275085536", "lessThan": "56252da41426f3d01957456f13caf46ce670ea29", "status": "affected", "versionType": "git"}, {"version": "7f8a436eaa2c3ddd8e1ff2fbca267e6275085536", "lessThan": "066b86787fa3d97b7aefb5ac0a99a22dad2d15f8", "status": "affected", "versionType": "git"}]}, {"product": "Linux", "vendor": "Linux", "defaultStatus": "affected", "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git", "programFiles": ["net/core/dev.c", "net/openvswitch/actions.c"], "versions": [{"version": "4.3", "status": "affected"}, {"version": "0", "lessThan": "4.3", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "semver"}, {"version": "5.4.293", "lessThanOrEqual": "5.4.*", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "semver"}, {"version": "5.10.237", "lessThanOrEqual": "5.10.*", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "semver"}, {"version": "5.15.181", "lessThanOrEqual": "5.15.*", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "semver"}, {"version": "6.1.25", "lessThanOrEqual": "6.1.*", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "semver"}, {"version": "6.2.12", "lessThanOrEqual": "6.2.*", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "semver"}, {"version": "6.3", "lessThanOrEqual": "*", "status": "unaffected", "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"}]}], "cpeApplicability": [{"nodes": [{"operator": "OR", "negate": false, "cpeMatch": [{"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionStartIncluding": "4.3", "versionEndExcluding": "5.4.293"}, {"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionStartIncluding": "4.3", "versionEndExcluding": "5.10.237"}, {"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionStartIncluding": "4.3", "versionEndExcluding": "5.15.181"}, {"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionStartIncluding": "4.3", "versionEndExcluding": "6.1.25"}, {"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionStartIncluding": "4.3", "versionEndExcluding": "6.2.12"}, {"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionStartIncluding": "4.3", "versionEndExcluding": "6.3"}]}]}], "references": [{"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b0dd09c1ceb35950d2884848099fccc9ec9a123"}, {"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/284be5db6c8d06d247ed056cfc448c4f79bbb16c"}, {"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5efcb301523baacd98a47553d4996e924923114d"}, {"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/644b3051b06ba465bc7401bfae9b14963cbc8c1c"}, {"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56252da41426f3d01957456f13caf46ce670ea29"}, {"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066b86787fa3d97b7aefb5ac0a99a22dad2d15f8"}], "title": "net: openvswitch: fix race on port output", "x_generator": {"engine": "bippy-1.2.0"}}}}

{"cveTags": [], "descriptions": [{"lang": "en", "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: openvswitch: fix race on port output\n\nassume the following setup on a single machine:\n1. An openvswitch instance with one bridge and default flows\n2. two network namespaces \"server\" and \"client\"\n3. two ovs interfaces \"server\" and \"client\" on the bridge\n4. for each ovs interface a veth pair with a matching name and 32 rx and\n tx queues\n5. move the ends of the veth pairs to the respective network namespaces\n6. assign ip addresses to each of the veth ends in the namespaces (needs\n to be the same subnet)\n7. start some http server on the server network namespace\n8. test if a client in the client namespace can reach the http server\n\nwhen following the actions below the host has a chance of getting a cpu\nstuck in a infinite loop:\n1. send a large amount of parallel requests to the http server (around\n 3000 curls should work)\n2. in parallel delete the network namespace (do not delete interfaces or\n stop the server, just kill the namespace)\n\nthere is a low chance that this will cause the below kernel cpu stuck\nmessage. If this does not happen just retry.\nBelow there is also the output of bpftrace for the functions mentioned\nin the output.\n\nThe series of events happening here is:\n1. the network namespace is deleted calling\n `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` somewhere in the process\n2. this sets first `NETREG_UNREGISTERING` on both ends of the veth and\n then runs `synchronize_net`\n3. it then calls `call_netdevice_notifiers` with `NETDEV_UNREGISTER`\n4. this is then handled by `dp_device_event` which calls\n `ovs_netdev_detach_dev` (if a vport is found, which is the case for\n the veth interface attached to ovs)\n5. this removes the rx_handlers of the device but does not prevent\n packages to be sent to the device\n6. `dp_device_event` then queues the vport deletion to work in\n background as a ovs_lock is needed that we do not hold in the\n unregistration path\n7. `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` continues to call\n `netdev_unregister_kobject` which sets `real_num_tx_queues` to 0\n8. port deletion continues (but details are not relevant for this issue)\n9. at some future point the background task deletes the vport\n\nIf after 7. but before 9. a packet is send to the ovs vport (which is\nnot deleted at this point in time) which forwards it to the\n`dev_queue_xmit` flow even though the device is unregistering.\nIn `skb_tx_hash` (which is called in the `dev_queue_xmit`) path there is\na while loop (if the packet has a rx_queue recorded) that is infinite if\n`dev->real_num_tx_queues` is zero.\n\nTo prevent this from happening we update `do_output` to handle devices\nwithout carrier the same as if the device is not found (which would\nbe the code path after 9. is done).\n\nAdditionally we now produce a warning in `skb_tx_hash` if we will hit\nthe infinite loop.\n\nbpftrace (first word is function name):\n\n__dev_queue_xmit server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1\nnetdev_core_pick_tx server: addr: 0xffff9f0a46d4a000 real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1\ndp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 2, reg_state: 1\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\ndp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 6, reg_state: 2\novs_netdev_detach_dev server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2\nnetdev_rx_handler_unregister server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2\nsynchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024\nnetdev_rx_handler_unregister ret server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2\ndp_\n---truncated---"}], "id": "CVE-2023-53188", "lastModified": "2025-09-15T15:22:27.090", "metrics": {}, "published": "2025-09-15T14:15:41.023", "references": [{"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066b86787fa3d97b7aefb5ac0a99a22dad2d15f8"}, {"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/284be5db6c8d06d247ed056cfc448c4f79bbb16c"}, {"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56252da41426f3d01957456f13caf46ce670ea29"}, {"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5efcb301523baacd98a47553d4996e924923114d"}, {"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/644b3051b06ba465bc7401bfae9b14963cbc8c1c"}, {"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b0dd09c1ceb35950d2884848099fccc9ec9a123"}], "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67", "vulnStatus": "Awaiting Analysis"}

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