CVE-2023-53343 | icmp6: Fix null-ptr-deref of ip6_null_entry->rt6i_idev in icmp6_dev().

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 <48> 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: <IRQ> 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) </IRQ> <TASK> __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---

Published: 2025-09-17 Last update: 2026-01-14 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53343 is rated Low Risk (23.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2023-53343

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 2025-09-18 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53343

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53343

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53343

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53343 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-2023-53343
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53343
suse medium CVE-2023-53343 severity moderate: SUSE including 450 source package names (2.1.3-6.80:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-35.1.21.12, 2.1.3-7.57:kernel-default-6.4.0-35.1, …), 832 product×package rows across 166 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (166 product lines)): Fixed 491, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 110. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53343/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53343 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 159, released 138, not-affected 84, needed 15, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53343

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53343

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.14, < 4.19.291 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.251 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.188 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.121 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.40 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.4.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53343

cvelogic Threat Intelligence