Kernel crash via stale netdev hook teardown
Published Dec 30, 2025 · Updated Dec 30, 2025
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 5.15 nf_tables allows attackers to trigger a kernel crash during network namespace cleanup. The notifier ignores a netdevice unregister event while its namespace exits, so pre-exit hook teardown later dereferences freed device memory. Reaching the fault requires veth peers whose namespaces are both queued for removal; the public record does not specify the required privileges.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 5.15 nf_tables allows attackers to trigger a kernel crash during network namespace cleanup. The notifier ignores a netdevice unregister event while its namespace exits, so pre-exit hook teardown later dereferences freed device memory. Reaching the fault requires veth peers whose namespaces are both queued for removal; the public record does not specify the required privileges.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-54200
- Published
- Dec 30, 2025
- Updated
- Dec 30, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 30, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Dec 30, 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.
- Affected versionversion=5.15
- Affected versionversion=68a3765c659f809dcaac20030853a054646eb739 <30e4b13b1bfbdf3bf3b27036d8209ea1b9f0d880
- Affected versionversion=68a3765c659f809dcaac20030853a054646eb739 <8d56f00c61f67b450fbbdcb874855e60ad92c560
- Affected versionversion=68a3765c659f809dcaac20030853a054646eb739 <94032527efbac13be702c76afb9d872c0cca7a43
- Affected versionversion=68a3765c659f809dcaac20030853a054646eb739 <dc1c9fd4a8bbe1e06add9053010b652449bfe411
- Affected versionversion=90c7c58aa2bd02c65a4c63b7dfe0b16eab12cf9f
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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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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