CVE-2023-54161

Kernel crash via lockless receive-queue access

Published Dec 24, 2025 · Updated Dec 24, 2025

A race condition in Linux Kernel before 6.5 allows local users to crash the kernel through crafted Unix-domain socket activity. unix_stream_sendpage() accesses the peer receive queue without locking, racing garbage collection as it unlinks and frees a socket buffer carrying file descriptors. Triggering the race requires cyclic file-descriptor passing between paired sockets followed by closing both sockets; the Linux CNA later rejected the CVE identifier.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probabilityUnavailable
No score available in this record
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

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Summary

What happened

A race condition in Linux Kernel before 6.5 allows local users to crash the kernel through crafted Unix-domain socket activity. unix_stream_sendpage() accesses the peer receive queue without locking, racing garbage collection as it unlinks and frees a socket buffer carrying file descriptors. Triggering the race requires cyclic file-descriptor passing between paired sockets followed by closing both sockets; the Linux CNA later rejected the CVE identifier.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-54161
Published
Dec 24, 2025
Updated
Dec 24, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux Kernel
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 24, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Dec 24, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.2
  2. Affected versionversion=869e7c62486ec0e170a9771acaa251d1a33b5871 <d39fc9b94dc0719afa4bc8e58341a5eb41febef3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linux Kernelversion=4.2; version=869e7c62486ec0e170a9771acaa251d1a33b5871 <d39fc9b94dc0719afa4bc8e58341a5eb41febef3

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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

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Your stack

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