Vulnerability · Published Oct 4, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53585bpf: reject unhashed sockets in bpf_sk_assign

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-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 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 94.8% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: reject unhashed sockets in bpf_sk_assign The semantics for bpf_sk_assign are as follows: sk = some_lookup_func() bpf_sk_assign(skb, sk) bpf_sk_release(sk) That is, the sk is not consumed by bpf_sk_assign. The function therefore needs to make sure that sk lives long enough to be consumed from __inet_lookup_skb. The path through the stack for a TCPv4 packet is roughly: netif_receive_skb_core: takes RCU read lock __netif_receive_skb_core: sch_handle_ingress: tcf_classify: bpf_sk_assign() deliver_ptype_list_skb: deliver_skb: ip_packet_type->func == ip_rcv: ip_rcv_core: ip_rcv_finish_core: dst_input: ip_local_deliver: ip_local_deliver_finish: ip_protocol_deliver_rcu: tcp_v4_rcv: __inet_lookup_skb: skb_steal_sock The existing helper takes advantage of the fact that everything happens in the same RCU critical section: for sockets with SOCK_RCU_FREE set bpf_sk_assign never takes a reference. skb_steal_sock then checks SOCK_RCU_FREE again and does sock_put if necessary. This approach assumes that SOCK_RCU_FREE is never set on a sk between bpf_sk_assign and skb_steal_sock, but this invariant is violated by unhashed UDP sockets. A new UDP socket is created in TCP_CLOSE state but without SOCK_RCU_FREE set. That flag is only added in udp_lib_get_port() which happens when a socket is bound. When bpf_sk_assign was added it wasn't possible to access unhashed UDP sockets from BPF, so this wasn't a problem. This changed in commit 0c48eefae712 ("sock_map: Lift socket state restriction for datagram sockets"), but the helper wasn't adjusted accordingly. The following sequence of events will therefore lead to a refcount leak: 1. Add socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM) to a sockmap. 2. Pull socket out of sockmap and bpf_sk_assign it. Since SOCK_RCU_FREE is not set we increment the refcount. 3. bind() or connect() the socket, setting SOCK_RCU_FREE. 4. skb_steal_sock will now set refcounted = false due to SOCK_RCU_FREE. 5. tcp_v4_rcv() skips sock_put(). Fix the problem by rejecting unhashed sockets in bpf_sk_assign(). This matches the behaviour of __inet_lookup_skb which is ultimately the goal of bpf_sk_assign().

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.55-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53585
Debian:13linux6.5.3-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53585
Debian:14linux6.5.3-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-94.104UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1053.58UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1056.64UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1056.64.1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1051.59UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1050.55UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1036.42UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1046.49UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1047.53UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1050.55UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-94.104UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1044.44UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1022.22UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1009.9UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1051.57UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1046.49UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1027.31UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53585

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux cf7fbe660f2dbd738ab58aea8e9b0ca6ad232449 – before 791a12102e5191dcb6ce0b3a99d71b5a2802d12acf7fbe660f2dbd738ab58aea8e9b0ca6ad232449 – before 7dcbc0bb0e5cc1823923744befce59ac353135e6cf7fbe660f2dbd738ab58aea8e9b0ca6ad232449 – before c0ce0fb76610d5fad31f56f2ca8241a2a6717a1bcf7fbe660f2dbd738ab58aea8e9b0ca6ad232449 – before 8aa43cfbb68b25119d2ced14ec717173e2901fa2cf7fbe660f2dbd738ab58aea8e9b0ca6ad232449 – before 3d4522f59fb748a54446846522941a4f09da63e9cf7fbe660f2dbd738ab58aea8e9b0ca6ad232449 – before 67312adc96b5a585970d03b62412847afe2c6b01
Linux Linux 5.7

References