Linux Kernel up to 6.1.15/6.2.2 bpf bpf_map_area_alloc initialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.15/6.2.2 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function bpf_map_area_alloc of the component bpf. The manipulation results in initialization. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2023-53790. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.15/6.2.2. Affected is the function bpf_map_area_alloc of the component bpf. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a initialization vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-665. The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Zeroing allocated object from slab in bpf memory allocator Currently the freed element in bpf memory allocator may be immediately reused, for htab map the reuse will reinitialize special fields in map value (e.g., bpf_spin_lock), but lookup procedure may still access these special fields, and it may lead to hard-lockup as shown below: NMI backtrace for cpu 16 CPU: 16 PID: 2574 Comm: htab.bin Tainted: G L 6.1.0+ #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), RIP: 0010:queued_spin_lock_slowpath+0x283/0x2c0 ...... Call Trace: <TASK> copy_map_value_locked+0xb7/0x170 bpf_map_copy_value+0x113/0x3c0 __sys_bpf+0x1c67/0x2780 __x64_sys_bpf+0x1c/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x30/0x60 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 ...... </TASK> For htab map, just like the preallocated case, these is no need to initialize these special fields in map value again once these fields have been initialized. For preallocated htab map, these fields are initialized through __GFP_ZERO in bpf_map_area_alloc(), so do the similar thing for non-preallocated htab in bpf memory allocator. And there is no need to use __GFP_ZERO for per-cpu bpf memory allocator, because __alloc_percpu_gfp() does it implicitly.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2023-53790 since 12/09/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 03/29/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 278108 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53790), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.16 or 6.2.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 678ea18d6240299fd77d7000c8b1d7e5f274c8af/5d447e04290e78bdc1a3a6c321320d384e09c2f1/997849c4b969034e225153f41026657def66d286 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 (278108) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2765). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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