linux — security advisory
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp/udp: Fix memleaks of sk and zerocopy skbs with TX timestamp. syzkaller reported [0] memory leaks of an UDP socket and ZEROCOPY skbs. We can reproduce the problem with these sequences: sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0) sk.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_TIMESTAMPING, SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_SOFTWARE) sk.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_ZEROCOPY, 1) sk.sendto(b'', MSG_ZEROCOPY, ('127.0.0.1', 53)) sk.close() sendmsg() calls msg_zerocopy_alloc(), which allocates a skb, sets skb->cb->ubuf.refcnt to 1, and calls sock_hold(). Here, struct ubuf_info_msgzc indirectly holds a refcnt of the socket. When the skb is sent, __skb_tstamp_tx() clones it and puts the clone into the socket's error queue with the TX timestamp. When the original skb is received locally, skb_copy_ubufs() calls skb_unclone(), and pskb_expand_head() increments skb->cb->ubuf.refcnt. This additional count is decremented while freeing the skb, but struct ubuf_info_msgzc still has a refcnt, so __msg_zerocopy_callback() is not called. The last refcnt is not released unless we retrieve the TX timestamped skb by recvmsg(). Since we clear the error queue in inet_sock_destruct() after the socket's refcnt reaches 0, there is a circular dependency. If we close() the socket holding such skbs, we never call sock_put() and leak the count, sk, and skb. TCP has the same problem, and commit e0c8bccd40fc ("net: stream: purge sk_error_queue in sk_stream_kill_queues()") tried to
- Products
- linux
- Affected versions
- 6.1.27-1
- Fixed versions
- 6.1.37-1, 6.3.7-1
- CVEs
- CVE-2023-53489
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 15:42 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp/udp: Fix memleaks of sk and zerocopy skbs with TX timestamp. syzkaller reported [0] memory leaks of an UDP socket and ZEROCOPY skbs. We can reproduce the problem with these sequences: sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0) sk.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_TIMESTAMPING, SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_SOFTWARE) sk.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_ZEROCOPY, 1) sk.sendto(b'', MSG_ZEROCOPY, ('127.0.0.1', 53)) sk.close() sendmsg() calls msg_zerocopy_alloc(), which allocates a skb, sets skb->cb->ubuf.refcnt to 1, and calls sock_hold(). Here, struct ubuf_info_msgzc indirectly holds a refcnt of the socket. When the skb is sent, __skb_tstamp_tx() clones it and puts the clone into the socket's error queue with the TX timestamp. When the original skb is received locally, skb_copy_ubufs() calls skb_unclone(), and pskb_expand_head() increments skb->cb->ubuf.refcnt. This additional count is decremented while freeing the skb, but struct ubuf_info_msgzc still has a refcnt, so __msg_zerocopy_callback() is not called. The last refcnt is not released unless we retrieve the TX timestamped skb by recvmsg(). Since we clear the error queue in inet_sock_destruct() after the socket's refcnt reaches 0, there is a circular dependency. If we close() the socket holding such skbs, we never call sock_put() and leak the count, sk, and skb. TCP has the same problem, and commit e0c8bccd40fc ("net: stream: purge sk_error_queue in sk_stream_kill_queues()") tried to
osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489
linux
Fixed versions: 6.1.37-1
linux
Fixed versions: 6.3.7-1
linux
Fixed versions: 6.3.7-1
Complete source record
{
"id": "a5807a69389df4daad444e5174a67ee00faa561df75ba8d3b794f3e91e81763b",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489",
"summary": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp/udp: Fix memleaks of sk and zerocopy skbs with TX timestamp. syzkaller reported [0] memory leaks of an UDP socket and ZEROCOPY skbs. We can reproduce the problem with these sequences: sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0) sk.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_TIMESTAMPING, SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_SOFTWARE) sk.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_ZEROCOPY, 1) sk.sendto(b'', MSG_ZEROCOPY, ('127.0.0.1', 53)) sk.close() sendmsg() calls msg_zerocopy_alloc(), which allocates a skb, sets skb->cb->ubuf.refcnt to 1, and calls sock_hold(). Here, struct ubuf_info_msgzc indirectly holds a refcnt of the socket. When the skb is sent, __skb_tstamp_tx() clones it and puts the clone into the socket's error queue with the TX timestamp. When the original skb is received locally, skb_copy_ubufs() calls skb_unclone(), and pskb_expand_head() increments skb->cb->ubuf.refcnt. This additional count is decremented while freeing the skb, but struct ubuf_info_msgzc still has a refcnt, so __msg_zerocopy_callback() is not called. The last refcnt is not released unless we retrieve the TX timestamped skb by recvmsg(). Since we clear the error queue in inet_sock_destruct() after the socket's refcnt reaches 0, there is a circular dependency. If we close() the socket holding such skbs, we never call sock_put() and leak the count, sk, and skb. TCP has the same problem, and commit e0c8bccd40fc (\"net: stream: purge sk_error_queue in sk_stream_kill_queues()\") tried to ",
"evidence": "osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489",
"products": [
{
"name": {
"value": "linux",
"evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "6.1.37-1",
"evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": [
{
"value": "6.1.27-1",
"evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
}
]
},
{
"name": {
"value": "linux",
"evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
},
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"fixed_versions": [
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"evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
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},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
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"evidence": "/affected/2/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
}
],
"severity": "medium",
"structured": {
"id": "DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489",
"aliases": [
"DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "6.1.37-1"
}
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],
"package": {
"name": "linux",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=bookworm",
"ecosystem": "Debian:12"
},
"versions": [
"6.1.27-1"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "6.3.7-1"
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],
"package": {
"name": "linux",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=trixie",
"ecosystem": "Debian:13"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
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{
"ranges": [
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"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
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{
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"package": {
"name": "linux",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=forky",
"ecosystem": "Debian:14"
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"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53489.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-26T18:01:30.229140694Z",
"provider": "osv",
"upstream": [
"CVE-2023-53489"
],
"references": [
"https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53489"
]
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2023-53489",
"evidence": "/upstream"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 455542,
"published_at": "2025-10-01T12:15:51.95+00:00"
}