VYPR
Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Dec 9, 2025· Updated Apr 15, 2026

CVE-2023-53863

CVE-2023-53863

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netlink: do not hard code device address lenth in fdb dumps

syzbot reports that some netdev devices do not have a six bytes address [1]

Replace ETH_ALEN by dev->addr_len.

[1] (Case of a device where dev->addr_len = 4)

BUG: KMSAN: kernel-infoleak in instrument_copy_to_user include/linux/instrumented.h:114 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: kernel-infoleak in copyout+0xb8/0x100 lib/iov_iter.c:169 instrument_copy_to_user include/linux/instrumented.h:114 [inline] copyout+0xb8/0x100 lib/iov_iter.c:169 _copy_to_iter+0x6d8/0x1d00 lib/iov_iter.c:536 copy_to_iter include/linux/uio.h:206 [inline] simple_copy_to_iter+0x68/0xa0 net/core/datagram.c:513 __skb_datagram_iter+0x123/0xdc0 net/core/datagram.c:419 skb_copy_datagram_iter+0x5c/0x200 net/core/datagram.c:527 skb_copy_datagram_msg include/linux/skbuff.h:3960 [inline] netlink_recvmsg+0x4ae/0x15a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1970 sock_recvmsg_nosec net/socket.c:1019 [inline] sock_recvmsg net/socket.c:1040 [inline] ____sys_recvmsg+0x283/0x7f0 net/socket.c:2722 ___sys_recvmsg+0x223/0x840 net/socket.c:2764 do_recvmmsg+0x4f9/0xfd0 net/socket.c:2858 __sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2937 [inline] __do_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2960 [inline] __se_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2953 [inline] __x64_sys_recvmmsg+0x397/0x490 net/socket.c:2953 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

Uninit was stored to memory at: __nla_put lib/nlattr.c:1009 [inline] nla_put+0x1c6/0x230 lib/nlattr.c:1067 nlmsg_populate_fdb_fill+0x2b8/0x600 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4071 nlmsg_populate_fdb net/core/rtnetlink.c:4418 [inline] ndo_dflt_fdb_dump+0x616/0x840 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4456 rtnl_fdb_dump+0x14ff/0x1fc0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4629 netlink_dump+0x9d1/0x1310 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2268 netlink_recvmsg+0xc5c/0x15a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1995 sock_recvmsg_nosec+0x7a/0x120 net/socket.c:1019 ____sys_recvmsg+0x664/0x7f0 net/socket.c:2720 ___sys_recvmsg+0x223/0x840 net/socket.c:2764 do_recvmmsg+0x4f9/0xfd0 net/socket.c:2858 __sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2937 [inline] __do_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2960 [inline] __se_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:2953 [inline] __x64_sys_recvmmsg+0x397/0x490 net/socket.c:2953 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

Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook+0x12d/0xb60 mm/slab.h:716 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3451 [inline] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x4ff/0x8b0 mm/slub.c:3490 kmalloc_trace+0x51/0x200 mm/slab_common.c:1057 kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:559 [inline] __hw_addr_create net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:60 [inline] __hw_addr_add_ex+0x2e5/0x9e0 net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:118 __dev_mc_add net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:867 [inline] dev_mc_add+0x9a/0x130 net/core/dev_addr_lists.c:885 igmp6_group_added+0x267/0xbc0 net/ipv6/mcast.c:680 ipv6_mc_up+0x296/0x3b0 net/ipv6/mcast.c:2754 ipv6_mc_remap+0x1e/0x30 net/ipv6/mcast.c:2708 addrconf_type_change net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3731 [inline] addrconf_notify+0x4d3/0x1d90 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3699 notifier_call_chain kernel/notifier.c:93 [inline] raw_notifier_call_chain+0xe4/0x430 kernel/notifier.c:461 call_netdevice_notifiers_info net/core/dev.c:1935 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers_extack net/core/dev.c:1973 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers+0x1ee/0x2d0 net/core/dev.c:1987 bond_enslave+0xccd/0x53f0 drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:1906 do_set_master net/core/rtnetlink.c:2626 [inline] rtnl_newlink_create net/core/rtnetlink.c:3460 [inline] __rtnl_newlink net/core/rtnetlink.c:3660 [inline] rtnl_newlink+0x378c/0x40e0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3673 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x16a6/0x1840 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6395 netlink_rcv_skb+0x371/0x650 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2546 rtnetlink_rcv+0x34/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6413 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1339 [inline] netlink_unicast+0xf28/0x1230 net/netlink/af_ ---truncated---

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

A kernel information leak in netlink FDB dumps occurs when a device's address length is not ETH_ALEN, causing uninitialized memory to be copied to user space.

Vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the netlink FDB dump functionality hard-coded ETH_ALEN (6 bytes) when copying device addresses into netlink messages, even though not all network devices use 6-byte addresses. This mismatch caused nlmsg_populate_fdb_fill to read beyond the actual address buffer, leading to a kernel information leak (KMSAN: kernel-infoleak) [description].

Exploitation

The bug is triggered by sending a NETLINK_ROUTE socket RTM_GETNEIGH dump request for a device whose dev->addr_len is not 6 (e.g., 4). An unprivileged user can issue such a request, as FDB dumps are accessible without special capabilities. The kernel then copies uninitialized bytes from the stack into the netlink response, which is sent back to user space [description].

Impact

An attacker can retrieve uninitialized kernel memory, which may contain sensitive information such as kernel pointers or other data that could aid in further exploitation. This is an information disclosure vulnerability with a CVSS score typically in the medium range [description].

Mitigation

Patches have been committed to the Linux kernel stable trees (including commits 44db85c6e1a1, e9331c8fa4c6, 73862118bd9d, 61d1bf3c34bf) that replace the hard-coded ETH_ALEN with dev->addr_len, ensuring the correct address length is used [1][2][3][4]. Users should apply the latest kernel updates for their distribution.

AI Insight generated on May 19, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

1

Patches

9

Vulnerability mechanics

Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.

References

9

News mentions

0

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