System hang via IRQ-unsafe netlink locking
Published Oct 22, 2025 · Updated Oct 22, 2025
A deadlock in the Linux kernel netlink subsystem allows attackers to hang an affected system through concurrent netlink operations. netlink_set_err() and __netlink_diag_dump() take nl_table_lock without IRQ-safe locking, allowing an interrupt handler holding queue_stop_reason_lock to invert the lock order and deadlock. The published reproducer is a local syzkaller workload; required privileges and remote reachability are not established, and the demonstrated consequence is a system hang.
Summary
What happened
A deadlock in the Linux kernel netlink subsystem allows attackers to hang an affected system through concurrent netlink operations. netlink_set_err() and __netlink_diag_dump() take nl_table_lock without IRQ-safe locking, allowing an interrupt handler holding queue_stop_reason_lock to invert the lock order and deadlock. The published reproducer is a local syzkaller workload; required privileges and remote reachability are not established, and the demonstrated consequence is a system hang.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53731
- Published
- Oct 22, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 22, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 22, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 22, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=1d482e666b8e74c7555dbdfbfb77205eeed3ff2d <1556ba034b95cfd4f75ea93c1a2679ae0444bba1
- Affected versionversion=1d482e666b8e74c7555dbdfbfb77205eeed3ff2d <61ffe8b1ee084e5c82a4e4bbf9e7b68e0c06e464
- Affected versionversion=1d482e666b8e74c7555dbdfbfb77205eeed3ff2d <8d61f926d42045961e6b65191c09e3678d86a9cf
- Affected versionversion=1d482e666b8e74c7555dbdfbfb77205eeed3ff2d <a641240b7e071c5538dc0e7894ece833fce459dd
- Affected versionversion=1d482e666b8e74c7555dbdfbfb77205eeed3ff2d <eb8e27c8fa9397b4a7b181c48fa58157dbe9902e
- Affected versionversion=1d6d43d4805da9b3fa0f5841e8b1083c89868f35 <cde7b90e0539a3b11da377e463dfd2288a162dbf
- Affected versionversion=21df0c2e7d195de4a3c650de9361b3037fa6c59a <8f6652ed2ad98fe6d13b903483d9257762ab2ec6
- Affected versionversion=5.13
- Affected versionversion=59fba11d649854134c75ad88c8adafa9304ac419 <4b9adb8d4a62ff7608d4a7d4eb42036a88f30980
- Affected versionversion=5f155c4046200f067b1dc3140ea99ef56e4e0b74
- Affected versionversion=76cc8e04f38c2bbfcba07f62864a011f142bd40c
- Affected versionversion=82b2ea5f904b3826934df4a00f3b8806272185f6 <c09e8e3f7fd432984bf5422302b093d2371dfc48
- Affected versionversion=a8e9111a8625dd11e70edd61f7a1ccd26c041442
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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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