Kernel crash via stale SCTP send-stream index
Published Sep 16, 2025 · Updated Sep 16, 2025
NULL pointer dereference in Linux 4.15 through 6.3-rc5 allows local users to crash the kernel through concurrent SCTP sends. After wait_for_sndbuf wakes, sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc uses a stream index validated before INIT_ACK shrank the association's outbound stream count, dereferencing a missing stream. The race requires a local low-privileged process to send on stream N-1 while connection negotiation reduces the count to N-2; the resulting dereference interrupts the host.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in Linux 4.15 through 6.3-rc5 allows local users to crash the kernel through concurrent SCTP sends. After wait_for_sndbuf wakes, sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc uses a stream index validated before INIT_ACK shrank the association's outbound stream count, dereferencing a missing stream. The race requires a local low-privileged process to send on stream N-1 while connection negotiation reduces the count to N-2; the resulting dereference interrupts the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53296
- Published
- Sep 16, 2025
- Updated
- Sep 16, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 16, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.15
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <0443fff49d6352160c200064156c25898bd9f58c
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <2584024b23552c00d95b50255e47bd18d306d31a
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <667eb99cf7c15fe5b0ecefe75cf658e20ef20c9f
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <9346a1a21142357972a6f466ba6275ddc54b04ac
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <a615e7270318fa0b98bf1ff38daf6cf52d840312
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <b4b6dfad41aaae9e36e44327b18d5cf4b20dd2ce
- Affected versionversion=5bbbbe32a43199c2b9ea5ea66fab6241c64beb51 <d2128636b303aa9cf065055402ee6697409a8837
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo