CVE-2023-53492 | netfilter: nf_tables: do not ignore genmask when looking up chain by id

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: do not ignore genmask when looking up chain by id When adding a rule to a chain referring to its ID, if that chain had been deleted on the same batch, the rule might end up referring to a deleted chain. This will lead to a WARNING like following: [ 33.098431] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 33.098678] WARNING: CPU: 5 PID: 69 at net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:2037 nf_tables_chain_destroy+0x23d/0x260 [ 33.099217] Modules linked in: [ 33.099388] CPU: 5 PID: 69 Comm: kworker/5:1 Not tainted 6.4.0+ #409 [ 33.099726] Workqueue: events nf_tables_trans_destroy_work [ 33.100018] RIP: 0010:nf_tables_chain_destroy+0x23d/0x260 [ 33.100306] Code: 8b 7c 24 68 e8 64 9c ed fe 4c 89 e7 e8 5c 9c ed fe 48 83 c4 08 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d 31 c0 89 c6 89 c7 c3 cc cc cc cc <0f> 0b 48 83 c4 08 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d 31 c0 89 c6 89 c7 [ 33.101271] RSP: 0018:ffffc900004ffc48 EFLAGS: 00010202 [ 33.101546] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff888006fc0a28 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 33.101920] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 [ 33.102649] RBP: ffffc900004ffc78 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 33.103018] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff8880135ef500 [ 33.103385] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: dead000000000122 R15: ffff888006fc0a10 [ 33.103762] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888024c80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 33.104184] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 33.104493] CR2: 00007fe863b56a50 CR3: 00000000124b0001 CR4: 0000000000770ee0 [ 33.104872] PKRU: 55555554 [ 33.104999] Call Trace: [ 33.105113] <TASK> [ 33.105214] ? show_regs+0x72/0x90 [ 33.105371] ? __warn+0xa5/0x210 [ 33.105520] ? nf_tables_chain_destroy+0x23d/0x260 [ 33.105732] ? report_bug+0x1f2/0x200 [ 33.105902] ? handle_bug+0x46/0x90 [ 33.106546] ? exc_invalid_op+0x19/0x50 [ 33.106762] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1b/0x20 [ 33.106995] ? nf_tables_chain_destroy+0x23d/0x260 [ 33.107249] ? nf_tables_chain_destroy+0x30/0x260 [ 33.107506] nf_tables_trans_destroy_work+0x669/0x680 [ 33.107782] ? mark_held_locks+0x28/0xa0 [ 33.107996] ? __pfx_nf_tables_trans_destroy_work+0x10/0x10 [ 33.108294] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x28/0x70 [ 33.108538] process_one_work+0x68c/0xb70 [ 33.108755] ? lock_acquire+0x17f/0x420 [ 33.108977] ? __pfx_process_one_work+0x10/0x10 [ 33.109218] ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x128/0x1d0 [ 33.109435] ? _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x71/0x80 [ 33.109634] worker_thread+0x2bd/0x700 [ 33.109817] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 33.110254] kthread+0x18b/0x1d0 [ 33.110410] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 33.110581] ret_from_fork+0x29/0x50 [ 33.110757] </TASK> [ 33.110866] irq event stamp: 1651 [ 33.111017] hardirqs last enabled at (1659): [<ffffffffa206a209>] __up_console_sem+0x79/0xa0 [ 33.111379] hardirqs last disabled at (1666): [<ffffffffa206a1ee>] __up_console_sem+0x5e/0xa0 [ 33.111740] softirqs last enabled at (1616): [<ffffffffa1f5d40e>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x9e/0xe0 [ 33.112094] softirqs last disabled at (1367): [<ffffffffa1f5d40e>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x9e/0xe0 [ 33.112453] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- This is due to the nft_chain_lookup_byid ignoring the genmask. After this change, adding the new rule will fail as it will not find the chain.

Published: 2025-10-01 Last update: 2026-01-16 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53492 is rated Low Risk (32.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). 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-2023-53492

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 0.02% 0.15% +0.13%
2 2025-10-01 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53492

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 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53492

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53492

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53492 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-2023-53492
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53492
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53492/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53492 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 158, not-affected 123, released 115, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53492

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53492

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.9, < 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, < 6.1.39 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.4.4 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-2023-53492

cvelogic Threat Intelligence