Linux Kernel up to 5.4.230/5.10.165/5.15.90/6.1.8 sch_taprio net_tx_action use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.230/5.10.165/5.15.90/6.1.8. It has been classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function net_tx_action of the component sch_taprio. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2023-53021. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.230/5.10.165/5.15.90/6.1.8. This affects the function net_tx_action of the component sch_taprio. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: sch_taprio: fix possible use-after-free syzbot reported a nasty crash [1] in net_tx_action() which made little sense until we got a repro. This repro installs a taprio qdisc, but providing an invalid TCA_RATE attribute. qdisc_create() has to destroy the just initialized taprio qdisc, and taprio_destroy() is called. However, the hrtimer used by taprio had already fired, therefore advance_sched() called __netif_schedule(). Then net_tx_action was trying to use a destroyed qdisc. We can not undo the __netif_schedule(), so we must wait until one cpu serviced the qdisc before we can proceed. Many thanks to Alexander Potapenko for his help. [1] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in queued_spin_trylock include/asm-generic/qspinlock.h:94 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in do_raw_spin_trylock include/linux/spinlock.h:191 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in __raw_spin_trylock include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:89 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in _raw_spin_trylock+0x92/0xa0 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:138 queued_spin_trylock include/asm-generic/qspinlock.h:94 [inline] do_raw_spin_trylock include/linux/spinlock.h:191 [inline] __raw_spin_trylock include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:89 [inline] _raw_spin_trylock+0x92/0xa0 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:138 spin_trylock include/linux/spinlock.h:359 [inline] qdisc_run_begin include/net/sch_generic.h:187 [inline] qdisc_run+0xee/0x540 include/net/pkt_sched.h:125 net_tx_action+0x77c/0x9a0 net/core/dev.c:5086 __do_softirq+0x1cc/0x7fb kernel/softirq.c:571 run_ksoftirqd+0x2c/0x50 kernel/softirq.c:934 smpboot_thread_fn+0x554/0x9f0 kernel/smpboot.c:164 kthread+0x31b/0x430 kernel/kthread.c:376 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slab.h:732 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3258 [inline] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0x814/0x1250 mm/slub.c:4970 kmalloc_reserve net/core/skbuff.c:358 [inline] __alloc_skb+0x346/0xcf0 net/core/skbuff.c:430 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1257 [inline] nlmsg_new include/net/netlink.h:953 [inline] netlink_ack+0x5f3/0x12b0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2436 netlink_rcv_skb+0x55d/0x6c0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2507 rtnetlink_rcv+0x30/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6108 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] netlink_unicast+0xf3b/0x1270 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 netlink_sendmsg+0x1288/0x1440 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:734 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0xabc/0xe90 net/socket.c:2482 ___sys_sendmsg+0x2a1/0x3f0 net/socket.c:2536 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2565 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2574 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2572 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x367/0x540 net/socket.c:2572 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd CPU: 0 PID: 13 Comm: ksoftirqd/0 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc2-syzkaller-47461-gac3859c02d7f #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/22/2022

The weakness was shared by Alexander Potapenko. It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-53021 since 03/27/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/07/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 234965 (Amazon Linux 2 : kernel (ALASKERNEL-5.10-2025-089)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.231, 5.10.166, 5.15.91 or 6.1.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 1200388a0b1c3c6fda48d4d2143db8f7e4ef5348/c60fe70078d6e515f424cb868d07e00411b27fbc/c53acbf2facfdfabdc6e6984a1a38f5d38b606a1/d3b2d2820a005e43855fa71b80c4a4b194201c60/3a415d59c1dbec9d772dbfab2d2520d98360caae is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (234965) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0649). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.4.230
• 5.10.165
• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.15.71
• 5.15.72
• 5.15.73
• 5.15.74
• 5.15.75
• 5.15.76
• 5.15.77
• 5.15.78
• 5.15.79
• 5.15.80
• 5.15.81
• 5.15.82
• 5.15.83
• 5.15.84
• 5.15.85
• 5.15.86
• 5.15.87
• 5.15.88
• 5.15.89
• 5.15.90
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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