0.0
NA
CVE-2023-53188
net: openvswitch: fix race on port output
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: fix race on port output assume the following setup on a single machine: 1. An openvswitch instance with one bridge and default flows 2. two network namespaces "server" and "client" 3. two ovs interfaces "server" and "client" on the bridge 4. for each ovs interface a veth pair with a matching name and 32 rx and tx queues 5. move the ends of the veth pairs to the respective network namespaces 6. assign ip addresses to each of the veth ends in the namespaces (needs to be the same subnet) 7. start some http server on the server network namespace 8. test if a client in the client namespace can reach the http server when following the actions below the host has a chance of getting a cpu stuck in a infinite loop: 1. send a large amount of parallel requests to the http server (around 3000 curls should work) 2. in parallel delete the network namespace (do not delete interfaces or stop the server, just kill the namespace) there is a low chance that this will cause the below kernel cpu stuck message. If this does not happen just retry. Below there is also the output of bpftrace for the functions mentioned in the output. The series of events happening here is: 1. the network namespace is deleted calling `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` somewhere in the process 2. this sets first `NETREG_UNREGISTERING` on both ends of the veth and then runs `synchronize_net` 3. it then calls `call_netdevice_notifiers` with `NETDEV_UNREGISTER` 4. this is then handled by `dp_device_event` which calls `ovs_netdev_detach_dev` (if a vport is found, which is the case for the veth interface attached to ovs) 5. this removes the rx_handlers of the device but does not prevent packages to be sent to the device 6. `dp_device_event` then queues the vport deletion to work in background as a ovs_lock is needed that we do not hold in the unregistration path 7. `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` continues to call `netdev_unregister_kobject` which sets `real_num_tx_queues` to 0 8. port deletion continues (but details are not relevant for this issue) 9. at some future point the background task deletes the vport If after 7. but before 9. a packet is send to the ovs vport (which is not deleted at this point in time) which forwards it to the `dev_queue_xmit` flow even though the device is unregistering. In `skb_tx_hash` (which is called in the `dev_queue_xmit`) path there is a while loop (if the packet has a rx_queue recorded) that is infinite if `dev->real_num_tx_queues` is zero. To prevent this from happening we update `do_output` to handle devices without carrier the same as if the device is not found (which would be the code path after 9. is done). Additionally we now produce a warning in `skb_tx_hash` if we will hit the infinite loop. bpftrace (first word is function name): __dev_queue_xmit server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1 netdev_core_pick_tx server: addr: 0xffff9f0a46d4a000 real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1 dp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 2, reg_state: 1 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 dp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 6, reg_state: 2 ovs_netdev_detach_dev server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2 netdev_rx_handler_unregister server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 netdev_rx_handler_unregister ret server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2 dp_ ---truncated---

INFO

Published Date :

Sept. 15, 2025, 2:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Sept. 15, 2025, 3:22 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2023-53188 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

Solution
Fix race condition in Open vSwitch port output handling during network device unregistration.
  • Apply the kernel patch that resolves the race condition.
  • Update Open vSwitch to the patched version.
  • Restart relevant network services.
  • Test functionality thoroughly after patching.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2023-53188 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2023-53188 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2023-53188 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2023-53188 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Sep. 15, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: fix race on port output assume the following setup on a single machine: 1. An openvswitch instance with one bridge and default flows 2. two network namespaces "server" and "client" 3. two ovs interfaces "server" and "client" on the bridge 4. for each ovs interface a veth pair with a matching name and 32 rx and tx queues 5. move the ends of the veth pairs to the respective network namespaces 6. assign ip addresses to each of the veth ends in the namespaces (needs to be the same subnet) 7. start some http server on the server network namespace 8. test if a client in the client namespace can reach the http server when following the actions below the host has a chance of getting a cpu stuck in a infinite loop: 1. send a large amount of parallel requests to the http server (around 3000 curls should work) 2. in parallel delete the network namespace (do not delete interfaces or stop the server, just kill the namespace) there is a low chance that this will cause the below kernel cpu stuck message. If this does not happen just retry. Below there is also the output of bpftrace for the functions mentioned in the output. The series of events happening here is: 1. the network namespace is deleted calling `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` somewhere in the process 2. this sets first `NETREG_UNREGISTERING` on both ends of the veth and then runs `synchronize_net` 3. it then calls `call_netdevice_notifiers` with `NETDEV_UNREGISTER` 4. this is then handled by `dp_device_event` which calls `ovs_netdev_detach_dev` (if a vport is found, which is the case for the veth interface attached to ovs) 5. this removes the rx_handlers of the device but does not prevent packages to be sent to the device 6. `dp_device_event` then queues the vport deletion to work in background as a ovs_lock is needed that we do not hold in the unregistration path 7. `unregister_netdevice_many_notify` continues to call `netdev_unregister_kobject` which sets `real_num_tx_queues` to 0 8. port deletion continues (but details are not relevant for this issue) 9. at some future point the background task deletes the vport If after 7. but before 9. a packet is send to the ovs vport (which is not deleted at this point in time) which forwards it to the `dev_queue_xmit` flow even though the device is unregistering. In `skb_tx_hash` (which is called in the `dev_queue_xmit`) path there is a while loop (if the packet has a rx_queue recorded) that is infinite if `dev->real_num_tx_queues` is zero. To prevent this from happening we update `do_output` to handle devices without carrier the same as if the device is not found (which would be the code path after 9. is done). Additionally we now produce a warning in `skb_tx_hash` if we will hit the infinite loop. bpftrace (first word is function name): __dev_queue_xmit server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1 netdev_core_pick_tx server: addr: 0xffff9f0a46d4a000 real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 2, pid: 28024, tid: 28024, skb_addr: 0xffff9edb6f207000, reg_state: 1 dp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 2, reg_state: 1 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 dp_device_event server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, event 6, reg_state: 2 ovs_netdev_detach_dev server: real_num_tx_queues: 1 cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2 netdev_rx_handler_unregister server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2 synchronize_rcu_expedited: cpu 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024 netdev_rx_handler_unregister ret server: real_num_tx_queues: 1, cpu: 9, pid: 21024, tid: 21024, reg_state: 2 dp_ ---truncated---
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066b86787fa3d97b7aefb5ac0a99a22dad2d15f8
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/284be5db6c8d06d247ed056cfc448c4f79bbb16c
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56252da41426f3d01957456f13caf46ce670ea29
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5efcb301523baacd98a47553d4996e924923114d
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/644b3051b06ba465bc7401bfae9b14963cbc8c1c
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b0dd09c1ceb35950d2884848099fccc9ec9a123
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
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