CVE-2023-53831
NoneCVSS
—
EPSS
0.3%
Published
Dec 9, 2025
CISA due date
—
Cloudanix analysis
A Linux kernel networking bug could cause warnings or instability when handling certain IPv6 traffic, fixed by updating to a newer kernel version.
- Exploitation
- Local Privilege
- Attacker needs
- Local User
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Impact
- Denial Of Service
- Component
- OS kernel
- Class
- Race Condition
- Remediation
- Upgrade
- Effort
- Medium
- Patch risk
- Low
What it actually does
Race condition allowing concurrent modification of sk->sk_family (via IPV6_ADDRFORM) while sk_mc_loop() reads it multiple times, triggering WARN_ON_ONCE and potential incorrect multicast loop decisions in the networking stack.
Why it matters to the business
Kernel warnings or instability on Linux systems handling IPv6 multicast traffic, increasing operational overhead for patching and potentially affecting network-dependent services.
How an attack unfolds
An attacker crafts concurrent socket operations that change address family while multicast loop checks occur, hitting the inconsistent read path in sk_mc_loop() during packet transmission through ipvlan or similar drivers.
How to fix it
Update the Linux kernel to the commit 7586a66b9c4f1b8a825ea1dfa3a91aad5cc7b89b or later stable releases containing the single-read fix for sk->sk_family in sk_mc_loop().
How to confirm the fix worked
Verify the presence of the fix commit in the kernel source or confirm that sk_mc_loop() performs a single read of sk_family; monitor for absence of the specific WARN_ON_ONCE in net/core/sock.c.
Typical attack path
- Create IPv6 socket and enable multicast loop
- Trigger concurrent IPV6_ADDRFORM setsockopt to alter sk_family
- Send multicast traffic via ipvlan or netfilter path
- Hit the multi-read of sk_family in sk_mc_loop() causing the warning
How to detect it
Search kernel logs and dmesg for the sk_mc_loop WARN_ON_ONCE message and call traces involving ip6_finish_output or ipvlan_xmit; inspect for concurrent socket family changes preceding network transmission.
- WARNING: CPU:.*at net/core/sock.c:782 sk_mc_loop
- sk_mc_loop+0x165/0x260
- ipvlan_process_v6_outbound
- ipvlan_xmit_mode_l3
What your security team should do
- Apply the referenced kernel commit across all affected Linux distributions promptly
- Monitor kernel logs for sk_mc_loop warnings as an exposure indicator
- Prioritize updates on systems using IPv6 and ipvlan or multicast features
The record
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: read sk->sk_family once in sk_mc_loop() syzbot is playing with IPV6_ADDRFORM quite a lot these days, and managed to hit the WARN_ON_ONCE(1) in sk_mc_loop() We have many more similar issues to fix. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 1593 at net/core/sock.c:782 sk_mc_loop+0x165/0x260 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 1593 Comm: kworker/1:3 Not tainted 6.1.40-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/26/2023 Workqueue: events_power_efficient gc_worker RIP: 0010:sk_mc_loop+0x165/0x260 net/core/sock.c:782 Code: 34 1b fd 49 81 c7 18 05 00 00 4c 89 f8 48 c1 e8 03 42 80 3c 20 00 74 08 4c 89 ff e8 25 36 6d fd 4d 8b 37 eb 13 e8 db 33 1b fd <0f> 0b b3 01 eb 34 e8 d0 33 1b fd 45 31 f6 49 83 c6 38 4c 89 f0 48 RSP: 0018:ffffc90000388530 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: ffffffff846d9b55 RBX: 0000000000000011 RCX: ffff88814f884980 RDX: 0000000000000102 RSI: ffffffff87ae5160 RDI: 0000000000000011 RBP: ffffc90000388550 R08: 0000000000000003 R09: ffffffff846d9a65 R10: 0000000000000002 R11: ffff88814f884980 R12: dffffc0000000000 R13: ffff88810dbee000 R14: 0000000000000010 R15: ffff888150084000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8881f6b00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000020000180 CR3: 000000014ee5b000 CR4: 00000000003506e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <IRQ> [<ffffffff8507734f>] ip6_finish_output2+0x33f/0x1ae0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:83 [<ffffffff85062766>] __ip6_finish_output net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:200 [inline] [<ffffffff85062766>] ip6_finish_output+0x6c6/0xb10 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:211 [<ffffffff85061f8c>] NF_HOOK_COND include/linux/netfilter.h:298 [inline] [<ffffffff85061f8c>] ip6_output+0x2bc/0x3d0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:232 [<ffffffff852071cf>] dst_output include/net/dst.h:444 [inline] [<ffffffff852071cf>] ip6_local_out+0x10f/0x140 net/ipv6/output_core.c:161 [<ffffffff83618fb4>] ipvlan_process_v6_outbound drivers/net/ipvlan/ipvlan_core.c:483 [inline] [<ffffffff83618fb4>] ipvlan_process_outbound drivers/net/ipvlan/ipvlan_core.c:529 [inline] [<ffffffff83618fb4>] ipvlan_xmit_mode_l3 drivers/net/ipvlan/ipvlan_core.c:602 [inline] [<ffffffff83618fb4>] ipvlan_queue_xmit+0x1174/0x1be0 drivers/net/ipvlan/ipvlan_core.c:677 [<ffffffff8361ddd9>] ipvlan_start_xmit+0x49/0x100 drivers/net/ipvlan/ipvlan_main.c:229 [<ffffffff84763fc0>] netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4925 [inline] [<ffffffff84763fc0>] xmit_one net/core/dev.c:3644 [inline] [<ffffffff84763fc0>] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x320/0x980 net/core/dev.c:3660 [<ffffffff8494c650>] sch_direct_xmit+0x2a0/0x9c0 net/sched/sch_generic.c:342 [<ffffffff8494d883>] qdisc_restart net/sched/sch_generic.c:407 [inline] [<ffffffff8494d883>] __qdisc_run+0xb13/0x1e70 net/sched/sch_generic.c:415 [<ffffffff8478c426>] qdisc_run+0xd6/0x260 include/net/pkt_sched.h:125 [<ffffffff84796eac>] net_tx_action+0x7ac/0x940 net/core/dev.c:5247 [<ffffffff858002bd>] __do_softirq+0x2bd/0x9bd kernel/softirq.c:599 [<ffffffff814c3fe8>] invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:430 [inline] [<ffffffff814c3fe8>] __irq_exit_rcu+0xc8/0x170 kernel/softirq.c:683 [<ffffffff814c3f09>] irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x20 kernel/softirq.c:695
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Introduced | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Kernel | 2.6.33 | 4.14.326 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_19 | 0 | 1-150600.13.3.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-64kb | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-default-base | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-docs | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-source | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-syms | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | kernel-zfcpdump | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | kernel-docs | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | kernel-source | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | kernel-syms | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | dtb-aarch64 | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-64kb | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-debug | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-docs | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-kvmsmall | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-obs-qa | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-source | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-syms | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-zfcpdump | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 |
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