CVE-2023-52999 | net: fix UaF in netns ops registration error path

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: fix UaF in netns ops registration error path If net_assign_generic() fails, the current error path in ops_init() tries to clear the gen pointer slot. Anyway, in such error path, the gen pointer itself has not been modified yet, and the existing and accessed one is smaller than the accessed index, causing an out-of-bounds error: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in ops_init+0x2de/0x320 Write of size 8 at addr ffff888109124978 by task modprobe/1018 CPU: 2 PID: 1018 Comm: modprobe Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2.mptcp_ae5ac65fbed5+ #1641 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.1-2.fc37 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x6a/0x9f print_address_description.constprop.0+0x86/0x2b5 print_report+0x11b/0x1fb kasan_report+0x87/0xc0 ops_init+0x2de/0x320 register_pernet_operations+0x2e4/0x750 register_pernet_subsys+0x24/0x40 tcf_register_action+0x9f/0x560 do_one_initcall+0xf9/0x570 do_init_module+0x190/0x650 load_module+0x1fa5/0x23c0 __do_sys_finit_module+0x10d/0x1b0 do_syscall_64+0x58/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc RIP: 0033:0x7f42518f778d Code: 00 c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d cb 56 2c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007fff96869688 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000139 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00005568ef7f7c90 RCX: 00007f42518f778d RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00005568ef41d796 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00005568ef41d796 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00005568ef7f7d30 R14: 0000000000040000 R15: 0000000000000000 </TASK> This change addresses the issue by skipping the gen pointer de-reference in the mentioned error-path. Found by code inspection and verified with explicit error injection on a kasan-enabled kernel.

Published: 2025-03-27 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-52999 is rated Low Risk (34.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.20%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-52999

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.20% +0.19%
2 2025-03-28 0.01%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-52999

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-52999

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-52999

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-52999 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-52999
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-52999
suse medium CVE-2023-52999 severity moderate: SUSE including 72 source package names (bpftool-7.3.0-427.13.1.el9_4, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 279 product×package rows across 44 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Liberty Linux 9, … (44 product lines)): Known Not Affected 220, Fixed 59. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-52999/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-52999 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, released 154, ignored 146, not-affected 105, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-52999

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-52999

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.19.264, < 4.19.272 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.4.223, < 5.4.231 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.153, < 5.10.166 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.77, < 5.15.91 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.9 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.0.7 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.0.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-52999

cvelogic Threat Intelligence