CVE-2023-53566 (GCVE-0-2023-53566)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2025-10-04 15:17
Modified
2026-08-05 09:14
Severity ?
7.8 (High) - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: fix null deref on element insertion There is no guarantee that rb_prev() will not return NULL in nft_rbtree_gc_elem(): general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000003: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000018-0x000000000000001f] nft_add_set_elem+0x14b0/0x2990 nf_tables_newsetelem+0x528/0xb30 Furthermore, there is a possible use-after-free while iterating, 'node' can be free'd so we need to cache the next value to use.
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Version: 7ab87a326f20c52ff4d9972052d085be951c704b
Version: 181859bdfb9734aca449512fccaee4cacce64aed
Version: 4aacf3d78424293e318c616016865380b37b9cc5
Version: 2bf1435fa19d2c58054391b3bba40d5510a5758c
Version: 318cb24a4c3fce8140afaf84e4d45fcb76fb280b
Version: c9e6978e2725a7d4b6cd23b2facd3f11422c0643
Version: c9e6978e2725a7d4b6cd23b2facd3f11422c0643
Version: 5.10.166   ≤
Version: 5.15.91   ≤
Version: 6.1.9   ≤
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/netfilter/nft_set_rbtree.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
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              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.1.9",
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            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/netfilter/nft_set_rbtree.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.2"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.2",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "5.10.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "5.10.181",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "5.15.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "5.15.113",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.1.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.1.30",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.3.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.3.4",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.4",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "5.10.181",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.10.166",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "5.15.113",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "5.15.91",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.1.9",
                  "vulnerable": true
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                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.3.4",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.2",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.4",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.2",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetfilter: nft_set_rbtree: fix null deref on element insertion\n\nThere is no guarantee that rb_prev() will not return NULL in nft_rbtree_gc_elem():\n\ngeneral protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000003: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN\nKASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000018-0x000000000000001f]\n nft_add_set_elem+0x14b0/0x2990\n  nf_tables_newsetelem+0x528/0xb30\n\nFurthermore, there is a possible use-after-free while iterating,\n\u0027node\u0027 can be free\u0027d so we need to cache the next value to use."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7.8,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The vulnerable code is reached only through the nfnetlink/nftables netlink socket (NFT_MSG_NEWSETELEM), which requires local system access; there is no packet-processing path into nft_rbtree_gc_elem().\nAC:L - The attacker fully controls set contents, element timeouts, and insertion order, so making an expired element the leftmost rbtree node (rb_prev() == NULL) during the overlap walk is deterministic and needs no race or unpredictable memory layout.\nPR:L - Only CAP_NET_ADMIN in the network namespace is required, enforced via namespace-relative netlink_net_capable(), which any unprivileged user obtains with \"unshare -Urn\"; nftables and the rbtree set backend are fully netns-aware and autoloaded.\nUI:N - The attacker triggers the bug entirely from their own process by issuing netlink set-element operations; no victim action is involved.\nS:U - The corruption and crash occur within the kernel of the same host and security authority as the attacking task, with no crossing of a VM, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary.\nC:H - The fix addresses a use-after-free during the tree walk (an rb_erase()\u0027d, RCU-freed element is re-entered via rb_next()), and a UAF/double-free of nft_rbtree_elem objects gives the attacker control over reclaimed slab contents and thus a kernel memory read primitive.\nI:H - Beyond the crash, rb_erase() is invoked on an unvalidated rbe_prev (NULL or a wrong still-active element) and on already-erased nodes, producing attacker-influenced rbtree pointer writes and double nft_set_elem_destroy() \u2014 a classic heap-corruption primitive usable for control-flow hijack.\nA:H - The documented and readily reproducible outcome is a general protection fault / null-ptr-deref oops inside nft_add_set_elem() while holding the rbtree write lock and nftables commit mutex, panicking the kernel or wedging the netfilter subsystem."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:14:52.185Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b76db53ee8802ee5683f8cb401d7e2ec6f9b3d56"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/899aa5638568abf5d69de7a7bb95e4615157375b"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3fa13203b6d90cc3a33af47b058739f92ab82eef"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec5caa765f7f6960011c919c9aeb1467940421f6"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a836be60a3aabcedcd9c79f545d409ace1f20ba6"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a337706c1fb35aac3f26b48aca80421bdbe1d33a"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/61ae320a29b0540c16931816299eb86bf2b66c08"
        }
      ],
      "title": "netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: fix null deref on element insertion",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2023-53566",
    "datePublished": "2025-10-04T15:17:08.598Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-10-04T15:14:15.924Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:14:52.185Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


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