How severe is CVE-2023-54173?

This vulnerability has a CVSS score of (Unknown severity).

How difficult is it to exploit CVE-2023-54173?

Exploit difficulty: HARD. Estimated time to exploit: > 4 hours. Required skills: Advanced security expertise.

CVE-2023-54173 - YourPassGen

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

bpf: Disable preemption in bpf_event_output

We received report [1] of kernel crash, which is caused by
using nesting protection without disabled preemption.

The bpf_event_output can be called by programs executed by
bpf_prog_run_array_cg function that disabled migration but
keeps preemption enabled.

This can cause task to be preempted by another one inside the
nesting protection and lead eventually to two tasks using same
perf_sample_data buffer and cause crashes like:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000001
#PF: supervisor instruction fetch in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0010) – not-present page
…
? perf_output_sample+0x12a/0x9a0
? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x81/0x280
? perf_event_output+0x66/0xa0
? bpf_event_output+0x13a/0x190
? bpf_event_output_data+0x22/0x40
? bpf_prog_dfc84bbde731b257_cil_sock4_connect+0x40a/0xacb
? xa_load+0x87/0xe0
? __cgroup_bpf_run_filter_sock_addr+0xc1/0x1a0
? release_sock+0x3e/0x90
? sk_setsockopt+0x1a1/0x12f0
? udp_pre_connect+0x36/0x50
? inet_dgram_connect+0x93/0xa0
? __sys_connect+0xb4/0xe0
? udp_setsockopt+0x27/0x40
? __pfx_udp_push_pending_frames+0x10/0x10
? __sys_setsockopt+0xdf/0x1a0
? __x64_sys_connect+0xf/0x20
? do_syscall_64+0x3a/0x90
? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

Fixing this by disabling preemption in bpf_event_output.

[1] https://github.com/cilium/cilium/issues/26756

Related CVE by CWE

No related CWE found.

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Recently Exploited Similar Vulnerabilities

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How to fix CVE-2023-54173

CVE-2023-54173 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Disable preemption in bpf_event_output We received report [1] of kernel crash, which is caused by using nesting protection without disabled preemption. The bpf_event_output can be called by programs executed by bpf_prog_run_array_cg function that disabled migration but keeps preemption enabled. This can cause task to […]

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

Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/cilium/cilium/issues/26756

Full CVE details

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD

⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours

🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise

💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Dec 30, 2025

Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Dec 30, 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.

No related CVEs found (no vendor/product data available).