CVE-2023-53204

  • Published: 2025-09-15T15:15:46.847

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

af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight.

user->unix_inflight is changed under spin_lock(unix_gc_lock),
but too_many_unix_fds() reads it locklessly.

Let’s annotate the write/read accesses to user->unix_inflight.

BUG: KCSAN: data-race in unix_attach_fds / unix_inflight

write to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44798 on cpu 1:
unix_inflight+0x157/0x180 net/unix/scm.c:66
unix_attach_fds+0x147/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:123
unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline]
unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950
unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline]
unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline]
sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748
____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494
___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548
__sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577
__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline]
__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]
__x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

read to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44814 on cpu 0:
too_many_unix_fds net/unix/scm.c:101 [inline]
unix_attach_fds+0x54/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:110
unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline]
unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950
unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline]
unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline]
sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748
____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494
___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548
__sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577
__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline]
__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]
__x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

value changed: 0x000000000000000c -> 0x000000000000000d

Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on:
CPU: 0 PID: 44814 Comm: systemd-coredum Not tainted 6.4.0-11989-g6843306689af #6
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

Related CVE by CWE

No related CWE found.

Top CVE for Vendor

No vendor taxonomy on this entry.

Recently Exploited Similar Vulnerabilities

No recent KEV-listed items for this vendor/product.

How to fix CVE-2023-53204

CVE-2023-53204 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight. user->unix_inflight is changed under spin_lock(unix_gc_lock), but too_many_unix_fds() reads it locklessly. Let’s annotate the write/read accesses to user->unix_inflight. BUG: KCSAN: data-race in unix_attach_fds / unix_inflight write to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44798 on cpu 1: unix_inflight+0x157/0x180 net/unix/scm.c:66 unix_attach_fds+0x147/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:123 […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Sep 15, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Nov 12, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.