CVE-2023-54161
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
Use-After-Free Vulnerability in Linux Kernel af_unix Socket Handling

Publication date: 2025-12-24

Last updated on: 2025-12-24

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Fix null-ptr-deref in unix_stream_sendpage(). Bing-Jhong Billy Jheng reported null-ptr-deref in unix_stream_sendpage() with detailed analysis and a nice repro. unix_stream_sendpage() tries to add data to the last skb in the peer's recv queue without locking the queue. If the peer's FD is passed to another socket and the socket's FD is passed to the peer, there is a loop between them. If we close both sockets without receiving FD, the sockets will be cleaned up by garbage collection. The garbage collection iterates such sockets and unlinks skb with FD from the socket's receive queue under the queue's lock. So, there is a race where unix_stream_sendpage() could access an skb locklessly that is being released by garbage collection, resulting in use-after-free. To avoid the issue, unix_stream_sendpage() must lock the peer's recv queue. Note the issue does not exist in 6.5+ thanks to the recent sendpage() refactoring. This patch is originally written by Linus Torvalds. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffff988004dd6870 PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 4 PID: 297 Comm: garbage_uaf Not tainted 6.1.46 #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:kmem_cache_alloc_node+0xa2/0x1e0 Code: c0 0f 84 32 01 00 00 41 83 fd ff 74 10 48 8b 00 48 c1 e8 3a 41 39 c5 0f 85 1c 01 00 00 41 8b 44 24 28 49 8b 3c 24 48 8d 4a 40 <49> 8b 1c 06 4c 89 f0 65 48 0f c7 0f 0f 94 c0 84 c0 74 a1 41 8b 44 RSP: 0018:ffffc9000079fac0 EFLAGS: 00000246 RAX: 0000000000000070 RBX: 0000000000000005 RCX: 000000000001a284 RDX: 000000000001a244 RSI: 0000000000400cc0 RDI: 000000000002eee0 RBP: 0000000000400cc0 R08: 0000000000400cc0 R09: 0000000000000003 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888003970f00 R13: 00000000ffffffff R14: ffff988004dd6800 R15: 00000000000000e8 FS: 00007f174d6f3600(0000) GS:ffff88807db00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffff988004dd6870 CR3: 00000000092be000 CR4: 00000000007506e0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body.cold+0x1a/0x1f ? page_fault_oops+0xa9/0x1e0 ? fixup_exception+0x1d/0x310 ? exc_page_fault+0xa8/0x150 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 ? kmem_cache_alloc_node+0xa2/0x1e0 ? __alloc_skb+0x16c/0x1e0 __alloc_skb+0x16c/0x1e0 alloc_skb_with_frags+0x48/0x1e0 sock_alloc_send_pskb+0x234/0x270 unix_stream_sendmsg+0x1f5/0x690 sock_sendmsg+0x5d/0x60 ____sys_sendmsg+0x210/0x260 ___sys_sendmsg+0x83/0xd0 ? kmem_cache_alloc+0xc6/0x1c0 ? avc_disable+0x20/0x20 ? percpu_counter_add_batch+0x53/0xc0 ? alloc_empty_file+0x5d/0xb0 ? alloc_file+0x91/0x170 ? alloc_file_pseudo+0x94/0x100 ? __fget_light+0x9f/0x120 __sys_sendmsg+0x54/0xa0 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x69/0xd3 RIP: 0033:0x7f174d639a7d Code: 28 89 54 24 1c 48 89 74 24 10 89 7c 24 08 e8 8a c1 f4 ff 8b 54 24 1c 48 8b 74 24 10 41 89 c0 8b 7c 24 08 b8 2e 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 33 44 89 c7 48 89 44 24 08 e8 de c1 f4 ff 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffcb563ea50 EFLAGS: 00000293 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f174d639a7d RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00007ffcb563eab0 RDI: 0000000000000007 RBP: 00007ffcb563eb10 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00000000ffffffff R10: 00000000004040a0 R11: 0000000000000293 R12: 00007ffcb563ec28 R13: 0000000000401398 R14: 0000000000403e00 R15: 00007f174d72c000 </TASK>
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Meta Information
Published
2025-12-24
Last Modified
2025-12-24
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-12-24
EPSS Evaluated
2025-12-29
NVD
CVE-2023-54161
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 6.1.46
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN
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AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability is a null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's unix_stream_sendpage() function. It occurs because the function tries to add data to the last socket buffer (skb) in the peer's receive queue without properly locking the queue. If there is a loop between sockets due to file descriptor passing and both sockets are closed without receiving the file descriptor, garbage collection cleans them up. During this cleanup, the skb can be unlinked under a lock, but unix_stream_sendpage() may access it without locking, causing a use-after-free condition. This can lead to a kernel page fault. The issue was fixed by ensuring unix_stream_sendpage() locks the peer's receive queue before accessing it.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause a kernel crash due to a use-after-free condition leading to a page fault. This can result in denial of service (system instability or crash) on affected Linux systems. Exploiting this flaw could potentially allow an attacker to disrupt system operations or cause unexpected behavior in the kernel, impacting system reliability and availability.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

Update the Linux kernel to version 6.5 or later, as the issue does not exist in 6.5+ due to recent sendpage() refactoring. Applying the patch written by Linus Torvalds that adds locking to the peer's recv queue in unix_stream_sendpage() will also mitigate the vulnerability.


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