CVE-2023-54035 (GCVE-0-2023-54035)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-12-24 10:56 – Updated: 2026-08-05 09:16
VLAI
Title
netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter Set element addition error path decrements reference counter on chains twice: once on element release and again via nft_data_release(). Then, d6b478666ffa ("netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in object reference counter") incorrectly fixed this by removing the stateful object reference count decrement. Restore the stateful object decrement as in b91d90368837 ("netfilter: nf_tables: fix leaking object reference count") and let nft_data_release() decrement the chain reference counter, so this is done only once.
Severity
7.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Assigner
Linux CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard D 53/100 over 6639 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 35651fde1a7bb54dde0a46d35cd0d7136869ae86 , < b068314fd8ce751a7f906e55bb90f3551815f1a0 (git)
Affected: 628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 , < 9c959671abc7d4ffdf34eed10c64492d43cb6a3c (git)
Affected: 628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 , < b389139f12f287b8ed2e2628b72df89a081f0b59 (git)
Affected: bc9f791d2593f17e39f87c6e2b3a36549a3705b1 (git)
Affected: 3c7ec098e3b588434a8b07ea9b5b36f04cef1f50 (git)
Affected: a136b7942ad2a50de708f76ea299ccb45ac7a7f9 (git)
Affected: 25aa2ad37c2162be1c0bc4fe6397f7e4c13f00f8 (git)
Affected: d60be2da67d172aecf866302c91ea11533eca4d9 (git)
Affected: dc7cdf8cbcbf8b13de1df93f356ec04cdeef5c41 (git)
Affected: 4.19.316 , < 4.20 (semver)
Affected: 5.4.262 , < 5.5 (semver)
Affected: 5.10.188 , < 5.11 (semver)
Affected: 5.15.121 , < 5.16 (semver)
Affected: 6.3.10 , < 6.4 (semver)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Affected: 6.4
Unaffected: 0 , < 6.4 (semver)
Unaffected: 6.4.4 , ≤ 6.4.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.5 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
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{
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          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
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          "vendor": "Linux",
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          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter\n\nSet element addition error path decrements reference counter on chains\ntwice: once on element release and again via nft_data_release().\n\nThen, d6b478666ffa (\"netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in object\nreference counter\") incorrectly fixed this by removing the stateful\nobject reference count decrement.\n\nRestore the stateful object decrement as in b91d90368837 (\"netfilter:\nnf_tables: fix leaking object reference count\") and let\nnft_data_release() decrement the chain reference counter, so this is\ndone only once."
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            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
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              "value": "AV:L - The vulnerability is reached via the nfnetlink/netlink socket interface (NFT_MSG_NEWSETELEM), a local kernel API with no remote/network reachability.\nAC:L - The attacker deterministically reaches the buggy error path (e.g., inserting a duplicate map element to force -EEXIST) and controls how many times to repeat it; no uncontrolled conditions are involved.\nPR:L - nf_tables requires CAP_NET_ADMIN, but an unprivileged user obtains this in a new network namespace via unshare -Urn, so only low privileges are needed.\nUI:N - The counter underflow and subsequent chain deletion are triggered entirely by the attacker\u0027s own netlink operations, with no victim interaction required.\nS:U - The impact stays within the kernel\u0027s security authority (local privilege escalation), not crossing into a separate security scope such as a hypervisor boundary.\nC:H - The chain refcount underflow leads to a use-after-free of the chain object, letting the attacker reclaim the freed slot and read sensitive kernel memory.\nI:H - The use-after-free provides heap write primitives via reclaiming the freed chain object, enabling arbitrary memory corruption and privilege escalation.\nA:H - Freeing a still-referenced chain leaves dangling pointers that cause use-after-free access and kernel panic/oops."
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    "datePublished": "2025-12-24T10:56:02.358Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-12-24T10:53:46.180Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:16:39.727Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter\n\nSet element addition error path decrements reference counter on chains\ntwice: once on element release and again via nft_data_release().\n\nThen, d6b478666ffa (\"netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in object\nreference counter\") incorrectly fixed this by removing the stateful\nobject reference count decrement.\n\nRestore the stateful object decrement as in b91d90368837 (\"netfilter:\nnf_tables: fix leaking object reference count\") and let\nnft_data_release() decrement the chain reference counter, so this is\ndone only once."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2023-54035",
        "lastModified": "2026-08-04T10:19:25.870",
        "metrics": {
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                "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
                "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
                "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
                "scope": "UNCHANGED",
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              "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
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      "current_release_date": "2026-11-06T13:34:49+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2023-54035",
      "id": "CVE-2023-54035",
      "initial_release_date": "2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:fixed": "445",
      "product_status:known_affected": "22",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "91",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2023/cve-2023-54035.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



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