CVE-2023-54236
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided

TX Queue Mismatch Warning in Linux Kernel net_failover Component

Publication date: 2025-12-30

Last updated on: 2025-12-30

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/net_failover: fix txq exceeding warning The failover txq is inited as 16 queues. when a packet is transmitted from the failover device firstly, the failover device will select the queue which is returned from the primary device if the primary device is UP and running. If the primary device txq is bigger than the default 16, it can lead to the following warning: eth0 selects TX queue 18, but real number of TX queues is 16 The warning backtrace is: [ 32.146376] CPU: 18 PID: 9134 Comm: chronyd Tainted: G E 6.2.8-1.el7.centos.x86_64 #1 [ 32.147175] Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.10.2-3.el7_4.1 04/01/2014 [ 32.147730] Call Trace: [ 32.147971] <TASK> [ 32.148183] dump_stack_lvl+0x48/0x70 [ 32.148514] dump_stack+0x10/0x20 [ 32.148820] netdev_core_pick_tx+0xb1/0xe0 [ 32.149180] __dev_queue_xmit+0x529/0xcf0 [ 32.149533] ? __check_object_size.part.0+0x21c/0x2c0 [ 32.149967] ip_finish_output2+0x278/0x560 [ 32.150327] __ip_finish_output+0x1fe/0x2f0 [ 32.150690] ip_finish_output+0x2a/0xd0 [ 32.151032] ip_output+0x7a/0x110 [ 32.151337] ? __pfx_ip_finish_output+0x10/0x10 [ 32.151733] ip_local_out+0x5e/0x70 [ 32.152054] ip_send_skb+0x19/0x50 [ 32.152366] udp_send_skb.isra.0+0x163/0x3a0 [ 32.152736] udp_sendmsg+0xba8/0xec0 [ 32.153060] ? __folio_memcg_unlock+0x25/0x60 [ 32.153445] ? __pfx_ip_generic_getfrag+0x10/0x10 [ 32.153854] ? sock_has_perm+0x85/0xa0 [ 32.154190] inet_sendmsg+0x6d/0x80 [ 32.154508] ? inet_sendmsg+0x6d/0x80 [ 32.154838] sock_sendmsg+0x62/0x70 [ 32.155152] ____sys_sendmsg+0x134/0x290 [ 32.155499] ___sys_sendmsg+0x81/0xc0 [ 32.155828] ? _get_random_bytes.part.0+0x79/0x1a0 [ 32.156240] ? ip4_datagram_release_cb+0x5f/0x1e0 [ 32.156649] ? get_random_u16+0x69/0xf0 [ 32.156989] ? __fget_light+0xcf/0x110 [ 32.157326] __sys_sendmmsg+0xc4/0x210 [ 32.157657] ? __sys_connect+0xb7/0xe0 [ 32.157995] ? __audit_syscall_entry+0xce/0x140 [ 32.158388] ? syscall_trace_enter.isra.0+0x12c/0x1a0 [ 32.158820] __x64_sys_sendmmsg+0x24/0x30 [ 32.159171] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x90 [ 32.159493] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc Fix that by reducing txq number as the non-existent primary-dev does.

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Meta Information

Published
2025-12-30
Last Modified
2025-12-30
Generated
2026-07-06
AI Q&A
2025-12-30
EPSS Evaluated
2026-07-05
NVD
CVE-2023-54236
EUVD
EUVD-2023-60405

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 6.2.8-1.el7.centos

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Exploitability

CWE
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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability occurs in the Linux kernel's network failover code where the transmit queue (txq) number used by the failover device can exceed the default initialized number of queues (16). When the primary device has more than 16 tx queues, the failover device may select a queue number that does not exist, causing a warning and potential instability in packet transmission.

Impact Analysis

The impact of this vulnerability is that it can cause warnings and potential issues in network packet transmission when the failover device tries to use a transmit queue number that exceeds the initialized limit. This could lead to network instability or degraded network performance in systems using failover devices with primary devices having more than 16 transmit queues.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by checking the system logs for warnings related to TX queue selection, specifically warnings like: 'eth0 selects TX queue 18, but real number of TX queues is 16'. You can use the command 'dmesg | grep "TX queue"' or 'journalctl -k | grep "TX queue"' to find such warnings in the kernel logs.

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, reduce the number of transmit queues (txq) on the failover device to match the primary device's txq number, ensuring it does not exceed the default 16 queues. This prevents the warning and potential issues caused by selecting a non-existent TX queue.

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