---
id: CVE-2023-53698
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path

  Fix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen
  when a system is running out of memory
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path

  Fix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen
  when a system is running out of memory. If xp_alloc_tx_de…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= f7019562f142bc041f9cde63af338d1886585923 <
    789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3
  - >-
    Linux >= ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e <
    15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777
  - >-
    Linux >= ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e <
    3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072
  - >-
    Linux >= ba3beec2ec1d3b4fd8672ca6e781dac4b3267f6e <
    85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d
  - Linux 9f0c8a9d4ef1b9ebee0e4ac2495fe790727044aa
  - Linux >= 5.15.47 < 5.15.127
  - Linux >= 5.17.15 < 5.18
  - Linux 5.18
published: '2025-10-22'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T22:17:46.660'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53698'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15b453cf7348973217558235b9ece2ee5fea6777'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3e7722c31d4167eb7f3ffd35aba52cab69b79072'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/789fcd94c9cac133dd4d96e193188661aca9f6c3'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85c2c79a07302fe68a1ad5cc449458cc559e314d'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00164
epssPercentile: 0.05543
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-15T21:36:35.978263Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T22:48:25.416Z'
---

## Overview

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

xsk: fix refcount underflow in error path

Fix a refcount underflow problem reported by syzbot that can happen
when a system is running out of memory. If xp_alloc_tx_descs() fails,
and it can only fail due to not having enough memory, then the error
path is triggered. In this error path, the refcount of the pool is
decremented as it has incremented before. However, the reference to
the pool in the socket was not nulled. This means that when the socket
is closed later, the socket teardown logic will think that there is a
pool attached to the socket and try to decrease the refcount again,
leading to a refcount underflow.

I chose this fix as it involved adding just a single line. Another
option would have been to move xp_get_pool() and the assignment of
xs->pool to after the if-statement and using xs_umem->pool instead of
xs->pool in the whole if-statement resulting in somewhat simpler code,
but this would have led to much more churn in the code base perhaps
making it harder to backport.

## Remediation

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