CVE-2023-53731: Linux

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlink: fix potential deadlock in netlink_set_err() syzbot reported a possible deadlock in netlink_set_err() [1] A similar issue was fixed in commit 1d482e666b8e ("netlink: disable IRQs for netlink_lock_table()") in netlink_lock_table() This patch adds IRQ safety to netlink_set_err() and __netlink_diag_dump() which were not covered by cited commit. [1] WARNING: possible irq lock inversion dependency detected 6.4.0-rc6-syzkaller-00240-g4e9f0ec38852 #0 Not tainted syz-executor.2/23011 just changed the state of lock: ffffffff8e1a7a58 (nl_table_lock){.+.?}-{2:2}, at: netlink_set_err+0x2e/0x3a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1612 but this lock was taken by another, SOFTIRQ-safe lock in the past: (&local->queue_stop_reason_lock){..-.}-{2:2} and interrupts could create inverse lock ordering between them. other info that might help us debug this: Possible interrupt unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 CPU1 ---- ---- lock(nl_table_lock); local_irq_disable(); lock(&local->queue_stop_reason_lock); lock(nl_table_lock); <Interrupt> lock(&local->queue_stop_reason_lock); *** DEADLOCK ***

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 4.14.237, before 4.14.322 (fixed in 4.14.322); from 4.19.195, before 4.19.291 (fixed in 4.19.291); from 5.4.126, before 5.4.251 (fixed in 5.4.251); from 5.10.44, before 5.10.188 (fixed in 5.10.188); from 4.4.273, before 4.5 (fixed in 4.5); from 4.9.273, before 4.10 (fixed in 4.10); …

Published 2025-10-22. Last modified 2026-06-17.