---
id: CVE-2023-53190
title: 'vxlan: Fix memory leaks in error path'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  vxlan: Fix memory leaks in error path

  The memory allocated by vxlan_vnigroup_init() is not freed in the error
  path, leading to memory leaks [1]. Fix by calling
  vxlan_v…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= f9c4bb0b245cee35ef66f75bf409c9573d934cf9 <
    75c1ab900f7cf0485f0be1607c79c55f51faaa90
  - >-
    Linux >= f9c4bb0b245cee35ef66f75bf409c9573d934cf9 <
    5896f55810680391a32652ca2b91245a05c11e22
  - >-
    Linux >= f9c4bb0b245cee35ef66f75bf409c9573d934cf9 <
    06bf62944144a92d83dd14fd1378d2a288259561
  - Linux 5.18
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T20:19:54.683622Z'
published: '2025-09-15'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T20:21:06.725Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53190'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75c1ab900f7cf0485f0be1607c79c55f51faaa90'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5896f55810680391a32652ca2b91245a05c11e22'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/06bf62944144a92d83dd14fd1378d2a288259561'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00177
epssPercentile: 0.07348
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:31.785Z'
---

## Overview

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

vxlan: Fix memory leaks in error path

The memory allocated by vxlan_vnigroup_init() is not freed in the error
path, leading to memory leaks [1]. Fix by calling
vxlan_vnigroup_uninit() in the error path.

The leaks can be reproduced by annotating gro_cells_init() with
ALLOW_ERROR_INJECTION() and then running:

 # echo "100" > /sys/kernel/debug/fail_function/probability
 # echo "1" > /sys/kernel/debug/fail_function/times
 # echo "gro_cells_init" > /sys/kernel/debug/fail_function/inject
 # printf %#x -12 > /sys/kernel/debug/fail_function/gro_cells_init/retval
 # ip link add name vxlan0 type vxlan dstport 4789 external vnifilter
 RTNETLINK answers: Cannot allocate memory

[1]
unreferenced object 0xffff88810db84a00 (size 512):
  comm "ip", pid 330, jiffies 4295010045 (age 66.016s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    f8 d5 76 0e 81 88 ff ff 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 02  ..v.............
    03 00 04 00 48 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 01 00  ....H...........
  backtrace:
    [<ffffffff81a3097a>] kmalloc_trace+0x2a/0x60
    [<ffffffff82f049fc>] vxlan_vnigroup_init+0x4c/0x160
    [<ffffffff82ecd69e>] vxlan_init+0x1ae/0x280
    [<ffffffff836858ca>] register_netdevice+0x57a/0x16d0
    [<ffffffff82ef67b7>] __vxlan_dev_create+0x7c7/0xa50
    [<ffffffff82ef6ce6>] vxlan_newlink+0xd6/0x130
    [<ffffffff836d02ab>] __rtnl_newlink+0x112b/0x18a0
    [<ffffffff836d0a8c>] rtnl_newlink+0x6c/0xa0
    [<ffffffff836c0ddf>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x43f/0xd40
    [<ffffffff83908ce0>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x170/0x440
    [<ffffffff839066af>] netlink_unicast+0x53f/0x810
    [<ffffffff839072d8>] netlink_sendmsg+0x958/0xe70
    [<ffffffff835c319f>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x78f/0xa90
    [<ffffffff835cd6da>] ___sys_sendmsg+0x13a/0x1e0
    [<ffffffff835cd94c>] __sys_sendmsg+0x11c/0x1f0
    [<ffffffff8424da78>] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x80
unreferenced object 0xffff88810e76d5f8 (size 192):
  comm "ip", pid 330, jiffies 4295010045 (age 66.016s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 db e1 4f e7 00 00 00 00  ..........O.....
    08 d6 76 0e 81 88 ff ff 08 d6 76 0e 81 88 ff ff  ..v.......v.....
  backtrace:
    [<ffffffff81a3162e>] __kmalloc_node+0x4e/0x90
    [<ffffffff81a0e166>] kvmalloc_node+0xa6/0x1f0
    [<ffffffff8276e1a3>] bucket_table_alloc.isra.0+0x83/0x460
    [<ffffffff8276f18b>] rhashtable_init+0x43b/0x7c0
    [<ffffffff82f04a1c>] vxlan_vnigroup_init+0x6c/0x160
    [<ffffffff82ecd69e>] vxlan_init+0x1ae/0x280
    [<ffffffff836858ca>] register_netdevice+0x57a/0x16d0
    [<ffffffff82ef67b7>] __vxlan_dev_create+0x7c7/0xa50
    [<ffffffff82ef6ce6>] vxlan_newlink+0xd6/0x130
    [<ffffffff836d02ab>] __rtnl_newlink+0x112b/0x18a0
    [<ffffffff836d0a8c>] rtnl_newlink+0x6c/0xa0
    [<ffffffff836c0ddf>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x43f/0xd40
    [<ffffffff83908ce0>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x170/0x440
    [<ffffffff839066af>] netlink_unicast+0x53f/0x810
    [<ffffffff839072d8>] netlink_sendmsg+0x958/0xe70
    [<ffffffff835c319f>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x78f/0xa90

## Affected

- `Linux >= f9c4bb0b245cee35ef66f75bf409c9573d934cf9 < 75c1ab900f7cf0485f0be1607c79c55f51faaa90`
- `Linux >= f9c4bb0b245cee35ef66f75bf409c9573d934cf9 < 5896f55810680391a32652ca2b91245a05c11e22`
- `Linux >= f9c4bb0b245cee35ef66f75bf409c9573d934cf9 < 06bf62944144a92d83dd14fd1378d2a288259561`
- `Linux 5.18`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.