CVE-2023-53824
kernel: netlink: annotate lockless accesses to nlk->max_recvmsg_len
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · December 9, 2025
Updated · August 5, 2026
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netlink: annotate lockless accesses to nlk->max_recvmsg_len
syzbot reported a data-race in data-race in netlink_recvmsg() [1]
Indeed, netlink_recvmsg() can be run concurrently, and netlink_dump() also needs protection.
[1] BUG: KCSAN: data-race in netlink_recvmsg / netlink_recvmsg
read to 0xffff888141840b38 of 8 bytes by task 23057 on cpu 0: netlink_recvmsg+0xea/0x730 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1988 sock_recvmsg_nosec net/socket.c:1017 [inline] sock_recvmsg net/socket.c:1038 [inline] __sys_recvfrom+0x1ee/0x2e0 net/socket.c:2194 __do_sys_recvfrom net/socket.c:2212 [inline] __se_sys_recvfrom net/socket.c:2208 [inline] __x64_sys_recvfrom+0x78/0x90 net/socket.c:2208 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
write to 0xffff888141840b38 of 8 bytes by task 23037 on cpu 1: netlink_recvmsg+0x114/0x730 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1989 sock_recvmsg_nosec net/socket.c:1017 [inline] sock_recvmsg net/socket.c:1038 [inline] ____sys_recvmsg+0x156/0x310 net/socket.c:2720 ___sys_recvmsg net/socket.c:2762 [inline] do_recvmmsg+0x2e5/0x710 net/socket.c:2856 __sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2935 [inline] __do_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2958 [inline] __se_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2951 [inline] __x64_sys_recvmmsg+0xe2/0x160 net/socket.c:2951 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
value changed: 0x0000000000000000 -> 0x0000000000001000
Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: CPU: 1 PID: 23037 Comm: syz-executor.2 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc4-syzkaller-00195-g5a57b48fdfcb #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 03/02/2023
Statement
A data race in af_netlink.c allowed concurrent readers/writers of nlk->max_recvmsg_len, leading to inconsistent SKB allocation sizes and KCSAN-reported out of boundaries memory read warnings. In practice this is primarily a local DoS/robustness issue.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 4.7CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE not specified