CVE-2023-53863
NoneCVSS
—
EPSS
0.3%
Published
Dec 9, 2025
CISA due date
—
Cloudanix analysis
A bug in the Linux kernel could let local programs read small pieces of private internal memory that should never leave the kernel.
- Exploitation
- Local Privilege
- Attacker needs
- Low Privilege
- Complexity
- Low
- Impact
- Data Exposure
- Component
- OS kernel
- Class
- Information Disclosure
- Remediation
- Upgrade
- Effort
- Medium
- Patch risk
- Low
What it actually does
Kernel information leak caused by hard-coded ETH_ALEN assumption in netlink FDB dump paths, resulting in uninitialized slab memory being copied to user space when device address length differs from six bytes.
Why it matters to the business
Local processes may obtain fragments of kernel memory containing potentially sensitive data such as addresses or structures, increasing risk of further attacks on systems running affected kernels.
How an attack unfolds
An attacker creates or enslaves a network device whose hardware address length is not six bytes, then issues a netlink RTM_GETNEIGH or FDB dump request; the kernel path nlmsg_populate_fdb_fill copies uninitialized bytes from the address list into the reply message returned to user space.
How to fix it
Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version containing commit 61d1bf3c34bf5fe936c50d1a4bc460babcc85e88 or later; rebuild and reboot all affected systems.
How to confirm the fix worked
Confirm the running kernel source contains the replacement of ETH_ALEN with dev->addr_len in nlmsg_populate_fdb_fill and that no KMSAN reports occur during FDB dump operations on devices with non-standard address lengths.
Typical attack path
- Create or configure a netdevice with addr_len != ETH_ALEN via bonding or similar enslavement
- Send RTM_GETNEIGH or equivalent netlink dump request to rtnl_fdb_dump
- Receive netlink message containing leaked kernel slab contents from __nla_put
- Parse reply to extract uninitialized memory for further exploitation
How to detect it
Review netlink audit or syscall logs for frequent FDB dump requests from unprivileged processes; inspect kernel memory sanitizer reports or fuzzing logs for infoleak warnings in rtnetlink paths.
What your security team should do
- Prioritize kernel updates on all systems exposing netlink interfaces to untrusted local users
- Monitor for availability of distribution backports containing the referenced commit
- Restrict unprivileged access to netlink sockets where feasible until patches are applied
The record
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlink: do not hard code device address lenth in fdb dumps syzbot reports that some netdev devices do not have a six bytes address [1] Replace ETH_ALEN by dev->addr_len. [1] (Case of a device where dev->addr_len = 4) BUG: KMSAN: kernel-infoleak in instrument_copy_to_user include/linux/instrumented.h:114 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: kernel-infoleak in copyout+0xb8/0x100 lib/iov_iter.c:169 instrument_copy_to_user include/linux/instrumented.h:114 [inline] copyout+0xb8/0x100 lib/iov_iter.c:169 _copy_to_iter+0x6d8/0x1d00 lib/iov_iter.c:536 copy_to_iter include/linux/uio.h:206 [inline] simple_copy_to_iter+0x68/0xa0 net/core/datagram.c:513 __skb_datagram_iter+0x123/0xdc0 net/core/datagram.c:419 skb_copy_datagram_iter+0x5c/0x200 net/core/datagram.c:527 skb_copy_datagram_msg include/linux/skbuff.h:3960 [inline] netlink_recvmsg+0x4ae/0x15a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1970 sock_recvmsg_nosec net/socket.c:1019 [inline] sock_recvmsg net/socket.c:1040 [inline] ____sys_recvmsg+0x283/0x7f0 net/socket.c:2722 ___sys_recvmsg+0x223/0x840 net/socket.c:2764 do_recvmmsg+0x4f9/0xfd0 net/socket.c:2858 __sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2937 [inline] __do_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2960 [inline] __se_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2953 [inline] __x64_sys_recvmmsg+0x397/0x490 net/socket.c:2953 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Uninit was stored to memory at: __nla_put lib/nlattr.c:1009 [inline] nla_put+0x1c6/0x230 lib/nlattr.c:1067 nlmsg_populate_fdb_fill+0x2b8/0x600 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4071 nlmsg_populate_fdb net/core/rtnetlink.c:4418 [inline] ndo_dflt_fdb_dump+0x616/0x840 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4456 rtnl_fdb_dump+0x14ff/0x1fc0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4629 netlink_dump+0x9d1/0x1310 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2268 netlink_recvmsg+0xc5c/0x15a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1995 sock_recvmsg_nosec+0x7a/0x120 net/socket.c:1019 ____sys_recvmsg+0x664/0x7f0 net/socket.c:2720 ___sys_recvmsg+0x223/0x840 net/socket.c:2764 do_recvmmsg+0x4f9/0xfd0 net/socket.c:2858 __sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2937 [inline] __do_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2960 [inline] __se_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2953 [inline] __x64_sys_recvmmsg+0x397/0x490 net/socket.c:2953 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook+0x12d/0xb60 mm/slab.h:716 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3451 [inline] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x4ff/0x8b0 mm/slub.c:3490 kmalloc_trace+0x51/0x200 mm/slab_common.c:1057 kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:559 [inline] __hw_addr_create net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:60 [inline] __hw_addr_add_ex+0x2e5/0x9e0 net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:118 __dev_mc_add net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:867 [inline] dev_mc_add+0x9a/0x130 net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:885 igmp6_group_added+0x267/0xbc0 net/ipv6/mcast.c:680 ipv6_mc_up+0x296/0x3b0 net/ipv6/mcast.c:2754 ipv6_mc_remap+0x1e/0x30 net/ipv6/mcast.c:2708 addrconf_type_change net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3731 [inline] addrconf_notify+0x4d3/0x1d90 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3699 notifier_call_chain kernel/notifier.c:93 [inline] raw_notifier_call_chain+0xe4/0x430 kernel/notifier.c:461 call_netdevice_notifiers_info net/core/dev.c:1935 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers_extack net/core/dev.c:1973 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers+0x1ee/0x2d0 net/core/dev.c:1987 bond_enslave+0xccd/0x53f0 drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:1906 do_set_master net/core/rtnetlink.c:2626 [inline] rtnl_newlink_create net/core/rtnetlink.c:3460 [inline] __rtnl_newlink net/core/rtnetlink.c:3660 [inline] rtnl_newlink+0x378c/0x40e0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3673 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x16a6/0x1840 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6395 netlink_rcv_skb+0x371/0x650 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2546 rtnetlink_rcv+0x34/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6413 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1339 [inline] netlink_unicast+0xf28/0x1230 net/netlink/af_ ---truncated---
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Introduced | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Kernel | 3.5.0 | 4.14.322 |
| 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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