CVE-2023-53343

  • Published: 2025-09-17T15:15:38.100

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

icmp6: Fix null-ptr-deref of ip6_null_entry->rt6i_idev in icmp6_dev().

With some IPv6 Ext Hdr (RPL, SRv6, etc.), we can send a packet that
has the link-local address as src and dst IP and will be forwarded to
an external IP in the IPv6 Ext Hdr.

For example, the script below generates a packet whose src IP is the
link-local address and dst is updated to 11::.

# for f in $(find /proc/sys/net/ -name *seg6_enabled*); do echo 1 > $f; done
# python3
>>> from socket import *
>>> from scapy.all import *
>>>
>>> SRC_ADDR = DST_ADDR = “fe80::5054:ff:fe12:3456”
>>>
>>> pkt = IPv6(src=SRC_ADDR, dst=DST_ADDR)
>>> pkt /= IPv6ExtHdrSegmentRouting(type=4, addresses=[“11::”, “22::”], segleft=1)
>>>
>>> sk = socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_RAW)
>>> sk.sendto(bytes(pkt), (DST_ADDR, 0))

For such a packet, we call ip6_route_input() to look up a route for the
next destination in these three functions depending on the header type.

* ipv6_rthdr_rcv()
* ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv()
* ipv6_srh_rcv()

If no route is found, ip6_null_entry is set to skb, and the following
dst_input(skb) calls ip6_pkt_drop().

Finally, in icmp6_dev(), we dereference skb_rt6_info(skb)->rt6i_idev->dev
as the input device is the loopback interface. Then, we have to check if
skb_rt6_info(skb)->rt6i_idev is NULL or not to avoid NULL pointer deref
for ip6_null_entry.

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
PF: error_code(0x0000) – not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
CPU: 0 PID: 157 Comm: python3 Not tainted 6.4.0-11996-gb121d614371c #35
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:icmp6_send (net/ipv6/icmp.c:436 net/ipv6/icmp.c:503)
Code: fe ff ff 48 c7 40 30 c0 86 5d 83 e8 c6 44 1c 00 e9 c8 fc ff ff 49 8b 46 58 48 83 e0 fe 0f 84 4a fb ff ff 48 8b 80 d0 00 00 00 8b 00 44 8b 88 e0 00 00 00 e9 34 fb ff ff 4d 85 ed 0f 85 69 01
RSP: 0018:ffffc90000003c70 EFLAGS: 00000286
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000001 RCX: 00000000000000e0
RDX: 0000000000000021 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff888006d72a18
RBP: ffffc90000003d80 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001
R10: ffffc90000003d98 R11: 0000000000000040 R12: ffff888006d72a10
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff8880057fb800 R15: ffffffff835d86c0
FS: 00007f9dc72ee740(0000) GS:ffff88807dc00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 00000000057b2000 CR4: 00000000007506f0
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:

ip6_pkt_drop (net/ipv6/route.c:4513)
ipv6_rthdr_rcv (net/ipv6/exthdrs.c:640 net/ipv6/exthdrs.c:686)
ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu (net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:437 (discriminator 5))
ip6_input_finish (./include/linux/rcupdate.h:781 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:483)
__netif_receive_skb_one_core (net/core/dev.c:5455)
process_backlog (./include/linux/rcupdate.h:781 net/core/dev.c:5895)
__napi_poll (net/core/dev.c:6460)
net_rx_action (net/core/dev.c:6529 net/core/dev.c:6660)
__do_softirq (./arch/x86/include/asm/jump_label.h:27 ./include/linux/jump_label.h:207 ./include/trace/events/irq.h:142 kernel/softirq.c:554)
do_softirq (kernel/softirq.c:454 kernel/softirq.c:441)

__local_bh_enable_ip (kernel/softirq.c:381)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4231)
ip6_finish_output2 (./include/net/neighbour.h:544 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:135)
rawv6_sendmsg (./include/net/dst.h:458 ./include/linux/netfilter.h:303 net/ipv6/raw.c:656 net/ipv6/raw.c:914)
sock_sendmsg (net/socket.c:725 net/socket.c:748)
__sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2134)
__x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2146 net/socket.c:2142 net/socket.c:2142)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:120)
RIP: 0033:0x7f9dc751baea
Code: d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff f
—truncated—

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How to fix CVE-2023-53343

CVE-2023-53343 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: icmp6: Fix null-ptr-deref of ip6_null_entry->rt6i_idev in icmp6_dev(). With some IPv6 Ext Hdr (RPL, SRv6, etc.), we can send a packet that has the link-local address as src and dst IP and will be forwarded to an external IP in the IPv6 Ext Hdr. For example, […]

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 17, 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.