Vulnerability · Published Dec 9, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53781smc: Fix use-after-free in tcp_write_timer_handler().

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 4% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 95.9% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smc: Fix use-after-free in tcp_write_timer_handler(). With Eric's ref tracker, syzbot finally found a repro for use-after-free in tcp_write_timer_handler() by kernel TCP sockets. [0] If SMC creates a kernel socket in __smc_create(), the kernel socket is supposed to be freed in smc_clcsock_release() by calling sock_release() when we close() the parent SMC socket. However, at the end of smc_clcsock_release(), the kernel socket's sk_state might not be TCP_CLOSE. This means that we have not called inet_csk_destroy_sock() in __tcp_close() and have not stopped the TCP timers. The kernel socket's TCP timers can be fired later, so we need to hold a refcnt for net as we do for MPTCP subflows in mptcp_subflow_create_socket(). [0]: leaked reference. sk_alloc (./include/net/net_namespace.h:335 net/core/sock.c:2108) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:319 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:244) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1546) smc_create (net/smc/af_smc.c:3269 net/smc/af_smc.c:3284) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1546) __sys_socket (net/socket.c:1634 net/socket.c:1618 net/socket.c:1661) __x64_sys_socket (net/socket.c:1672) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:120) ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in tcp_write_timer_handler (net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:378 net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:624 net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:594) Read of size 1 at addr ffff888052b65e0d by task syzrepro/18091 CPU: 0 PID: 18091 Comm: syzrepro Tainted: G W 6.3.0-rc4-01174-gb5d54eb5899a #7 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.0-1.amzn2022.0.1 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:107) print_report (mm/kasan/report.c:320 mm/kasan/report.c:430) kasan_report (mm/kasan/report.c:538) tcp_write_timer_handler (net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:378 net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:624 net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:594) tcp_write_timer (./include/linux/spinlock.h:390 net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c:643) call_timer_fn (./arch/x86/include/asm/jump_label.h:27 ./include/linux/jump_label.h:207 ./include/trace/events/timer.h:127 kernel/time/timer.c:1701) __run_timers.part.0 (kernel/time/timer.c:1752 kernel/time/timer.c:2022) run_timer_softirq (kernel/time/timer.c:2037) __do_softirq (./arch/x86/include/asm/jump_label.h:27 ./include/linux/jump_label.h:207 ./include/trace/events/irq.h:142 kernel/softirq.c:572) __irq_exit_rcu (kernel/softirq.c:445 kernel/softirq.c:650) irq_exit_rcu (kernel/softirq.c:664) sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt (arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1107 (discriminator 14)) </IRQ>

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
AlmaLinux:8bpftool4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-abi-stablelists4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-core4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-cross-headers4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-debug4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-debug-core4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-debug-devel4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-debug-modules4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-debug-modules-extra4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-devel4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-doc4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-headers4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-modules4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-modules-extra4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-core4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-debug4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-debug-core4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-debug-devel4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-debug-modules4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-devel4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-modules4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-rt-modules-extra4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10ALSA-2026:25120
AlmaLinux:8kernel-tools4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-tools-libs4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-tools-libs-devel4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-zfcpdump4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-zfcpdump-core4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-zfcpdump-devel4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-zfcpdump-modules4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8perf4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
AlmaLinux:8python3-perf4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10ALSA-2026:25121
Debian:12linuxno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-53781
Debian:13linux6.3.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53781
Debian:14linux6.3.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53781
Rocky Linux:8kernel0:4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10RLSA-2026:25121
Rocky Linux:8kernel0:4.18.0-553.132.1.el8_10.cloud.0.1RXSA-2026:25121
Rocky Linux:8kernel-rt0:4.18.0-553.132.1.rt7.473.el8_10RLSA-2026:25120
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinuxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-awsno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azureno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcpno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeopno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibmno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotgno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvmno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatencyno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidiano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegrano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspino fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmpno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53781

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux ac7138746e14137a451f8539614cdd349153e0c0 – before 08f057bd1e559cdb388c77b18de3eea3d3d8cb24ac7138746e14137a451f8539614cdd349153e0c0 – before 1cc41c8acfc1ee30b4868559058db97fa44b0137ac7138746e14137a451f8539614cdd349153e0c0 – before 9744d2bf19762703704ecba885b7ac282c02eacf
Linux Linux 4.11

References