---
id: CVE-2023-7192
title: 'Kernel: refcount leak in ctnetlink_create_conntrack()'
summary: >-
  A memory leak problem was found in ctnetlink_create_conntrack in
  net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c in the Linux Kernel. This issue may allow
  a local attacker with CAP_NET_ADMIN privileges to cause a denial of service
  (DoS) attack due …
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-401
vendor: Red Hat
product: kernel
affected:
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel-rt (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel-rt (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel-rt (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel-rt (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel
  - kernel
  - kernel-rt
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel-rt (all versions)
  - kernel (all versions)
  - kernel-rt (all versions)
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2024-01-16T19:33:50.679311Z'
published: '2024-01-02'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T11:38:07.888Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-7192'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0723'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:0723'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0725'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:0725'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1188'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:1188'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1250'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:1250'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1306'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:1306'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1367'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:1367'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1382'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:1382'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1404'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:1404'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2006'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:2006'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2008'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:2008'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-7192'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2256279'
    label: RHBZ#2256279
  - url: >-
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net.git/commit/?id=ac4893980bbe79ce383daf9a0885666a30fe4c83
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00298
epssPercentile: 0.22647
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T21:36:00.813Z'
---

## Overview

A memory leak problem was found in ctnetlink_create_conntrack in net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c in the Linux Kernel. This issue may allow a local attacker with CAP_NET_ADMIN privileges to cause a denial of service (DoS) attack due to a refcount overflow.

## Affected

- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel-rt (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel-rt (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel-rt (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel-rt (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel`
- `kernel`
- `kernel-rt`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel-rt (all versions)`
- `kernel (all versions)`
- `kernel-rt (all versions)`

## Remediation

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

### Workarounds

Triggering this issue requires the ability to create user/net namespaces.

On non-containerized deployments of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, you can disable user namespaces by setting user.max_user_namespaces to 0:

# echo "user.max_user_namespaces=0" > /etc/sysctl.d/userns.conf
# sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/userns.conf

On containerized deployments, such as Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, do not use this mitigation as the functionality is needed to be enabled.

Alternatively, skip loading the affected netfilter module (i.e., nf_conntrack_netlink) onto the system until we have a fix available. This can be done by a blacklist mechanism which will ensure the driver is not loaded at boot time.
~~~
How do I blacklist a kernel module to prevent it from loading automatically?
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 
~~~