Linux Kernel up to 5.10.172/5.15.99/6.1.17/6.2.4 find_table_lock use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.172/5.15.99/6.1.17/6.2.4. This affects the function find_table_lock. Such manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2023-54243. There is no exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.172/5.15.99/6.1.17/6.2.4. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function find_table_lock. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: ebtables: fix table blob use-after-free We are not allowed to return an error at this point. Looking at the code it looks like ret is always 0 at this point, but its not. t = find_table_lock(net, repl->name, &ret, &ebt_mutex); ... this can return a valid table, with ret != 0. This bug causes update of table->private with the new blob, but then frees the blob right away in the caller. Syzbot report: BUG: KASAN: vmalloc-out-of-bounds in __ebt_unregister_table+0xc00/0xcd0 net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c:1168 Read of size 4 at addr ffffc90005425000 by task kworker/u4:4/74 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net Call Trace: kasan_report+0xbf/0x1f0 mm/kasan/report.c:517 __ebt_unregister_table+0xc00/0xcd0 net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c:1168 ebt_unregister_table+0x35/0x40 net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c:1372 ops_exit_list+0xb0/0x170 net/core/net_namespace.c:169 cleanup_net+0x4ee/0xb10 net/core/net_namespace.c:613 ... ip(6)tables appears to be ok (ret should be 0 at this point) but make this more obvious.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-54243 since 12/30/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. 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 04/27/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281515 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54243), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.173, 5.15.100, 6.1.18 or 6.2.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 9060abce3305ab2354c892c09d5689df51486df5/dbb3cbbf03b3c52cb390fabec357f1e4638004f5/3dd6ac973351308d4117eda32298a9f1d68764fd/cda0e0243bd3c04008fcd37a46b0269fb3c49249/e58a171d35e32e6e8c37cfe0e8a94406732a331f 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 (281515) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2941). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• IBM Power Hardware Management Console
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• IBM DataPower Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.172
• 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
• 5.15.91
• 5.15.92
• 5.15.93
• 5.15.94
• 5.15.95
• 5.15.96
• 5.15.97
• 5.15.98
• 5.15.99
• 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
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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