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🛡️ CVE-2023-53204 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 4.7 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
4.7
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight.

user->unix_inflight is changed under spin_lock(unix_gc_lock),

but too_many_unix_fds() reads it locklessly.

Let's annotate the write/read accesses to user->unix_inflight.

BUG: KCSAN: data-race in unix_attach_fds / unix_inflight

write to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44798 on cpu 1:

unix_inflight+0x157/0x180 net/unix/scm.c:66

unix_attach_fds+0x147/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:123

unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline]

unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950

unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline]

unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292

sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline]

sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748

____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494

___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548

__sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577

__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline]

__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]

__x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584

do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]

do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80

entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

read to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44814 on cpu 0:

too_many_unix_fds net/unix/scm.c:101 [inline]

unix_attach_fds+0x54/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:110

unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline]

unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950

unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline]

unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292

sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline]

sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748

____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494

___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548

__sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577

__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline]

__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]

__x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584

do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]

do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80

entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

value changed: 0x000000000000000c -> 0x000000000000000d

Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on:

CPU: 0 PID: 44814 Comm: systemd-coredum Not tainted 6.4.0-11989-g6843306689af #6

Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is high, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: High — the attacker first has to win a race, learn a secret or otherwise prepare the target.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-53204 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.2.0 up to 6.5.4)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.2 up to 6.5.4)

Timeline and source

Published on 15 September 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2023-53204 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 4.7
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-09-15
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.2.0 6.5.4
linux-kernel 6.2 6.5.4

References

Similar Threats

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