Service interruption via tunnel headroom data race
Published May 2, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Data race in Linux kernel IP tunnel transmission allows local users to interrupt service by triggering concurrent tunnel traffic. The tunnel transmit paths update dev->needed_headroom while ip_tunnel_xmit and LL_RESERVED_SPACE helpers read it without single-copy access annotations, allowing inconsistent headroom values. Low-privileged local access and concurrent tunnel transmission are required; published assessments limit impact to availability but do not identify whether failure means a hang, crash, or reboot.
Summary
What happened
Data race in Linux kernel IP tunnel transmission allows local users to interrupt service by triggering concurrent tunnel traffic. The tunnel transmit paths update dev->needed_headroom while ip_tunnel_xmit and LL_RESERVED_SPACE helpers read it without single-copy access annotations, allowing inconsistent headroom values. Low-privileged local access and concurrent tunnel transmission are required; published assessments limit impact to availability but do not identify whether failure means a hang, crash, or reboot.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53109
- Published
- May 2, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 2, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.7
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <4b397c06cb987935b1b097336532aa6b4210e091
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <51f3bd3765bc5ca4583af07a00833da00d2ace1d
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <5aaab217c8f5387b9c5fff9e940d80f135e04366
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <8e206f66d824b3b28a7f9ee1366dfc79a937bb46
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <9b86a8702b042ee4e15d2d46375be873a6a8834f
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <a69b72b57b7d269e833e520ba7500d556e8189b6
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <be59b87ee4aed81db7c10e44f603866a0ac3ca5d
- Affected versionversion=8eb30be0352d09165e94a41fef1c7b994dca0714 <e0a557fc1daf5c1086e47150a4571aebadbb62be
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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