Service interruption via nftables interval memory leak
Published Sep 16, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026
Resource leak in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to exhaust memory via expiring nftables interval sets. During lazy garbage collection in nft_set_rbtree, the overlap walk releases only one half of an expired interval, uses rbe_prev instead of the saved prev pointer after iteration, and omits an active-generation check for the end interval. Low-privileged local access is required; repeated crafted interval insertion leaves timed-out elements allocated until kernel memory exhaustion interrupts service.
Summary
What happened
Resource leak in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to exhaust memory via expiring nftables interval sets. During lazy garbage collection in nft_set_rbtree, the overlap walk releases only one half of an expired interval, uses rbe_prev instead of the saved prev pointer after iteration, and omits an active-generation check for the end interval. Low-privileged local access is required; repeated crafted interval insertion leaves timed-out elements allocated until kernel memory exhaustion interrupts service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53304
- Published
- Sep 16, 2025
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- 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.
- May 23, 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=181859bdfb9734aca449512fccaee4cacce64aed <acaee227cf79c45a5d2d49c3e9a66333a462802c
- Affected versionversion=2bf1435fa19d2c58054391b3bba40d5510a5758c <50cbb9d195c197af671869c8cadce3bd483735a0
- Affected versionversion=318cb24a4c3fce8140afaf84e4d45fcb76fb280b <89a4d1a89751a0fbd520e64091873e19cc0979e8
- Affected versionversion=4aacf3d78424293e318c616016865380b37b9cc5 <893cb3c3513cf661a0ff45fe0cfa83fe27131f76
- Affected versionversion=5.10.166 <5.10.190
- Affected versionversion=5.15.91 <5.15.124
- Affected versionversion=6.1.9 <6.1.43
- Affected versionversion=6.2
- Affected versionversion=7ab87a326f20c52ff4d9972052d085be951c704b <8284a79136c384059e85e278da2210b809730287
- Affected versionversion=c9e6978e2725a7d4b6cd23b2facd3f11422c0643 <cd66733932399475fe933cb3ec03e687ed401462
- Affected versionversion=c9e6978e2725a7d4b6cd23b2facd3f11422c0643 <f718863aca469a109895cb855e6b81fff4827d71
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
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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