CVE-2023-53855 | net: dsa: ocelot: call dsa_tag_8021q_unregister() under rtnl_lock() on driver remove

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dsa: ocelot: call dsa_tag_8021q_unregister() under rtnl_lock() on driver remove When the tagging protocol in current use is "ocelot-8021q" and we unbind the driver, we see this splat: $ echo '0000:00:00.2' > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/fsl_enetc/unbind mscc_felix 0000:00:00.5 swp0: left promiscuous mode sja1105 spi2.0: Link is Down DSA: tree 1 torn down mscc_felix 0000:00:00.5 swp2: left promiscuous mode sja1105 spi2.2: Link is Down DSA: tree 3 torn down fsl_enetc 0000:00:00.2 eno2: left promiscuous mode mscc_felix 0000:00:00.5: Link is Down ------------[ cut here ]------------ RTNL: assertion failed at net/dsa/tag_8021q.c (409) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 329 at net/dsa/tag_8021q.c:409 dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 329 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.5.0-rc3+ #771 pc : dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 lr : dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 Call trace: dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 felix_tag_8021q_teardown+0x130/0x150 felix_teardown+0x3c/0xd8 dsa_tree_teardown_switches+0xbc/0xe0 dsa_unregister_switch+0x168/0x260 felix_pci_remove+0x30/0x60 pci_device_remove+0x4c/0x100 device_release_driver_internal+0x188/0x288 device_links_unbind_consumers+0xfc/0x138 device_release_driver_internal+0xe0/0x288 device_driver_detach+0x24/0x38 unbind_store+0xd8/0x108 drv_attr_store+0x30/0x50 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- ------------[ cut here ]------------ RTNL: assertion failed at net/8021q/vlan_core.c (376) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 329 at net/8021q/vlan_core.c:376 vlan_vid_del+0x1b8/0x1f0 CPU: 1 PID: 329 Comm: bash Tainted: G W 6.5.0-rc3+ #771 pc : vlan_vid_del+0x1b8/0x1f0 lr : vlan_vid_del+0x1b8/0x1f0 dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x8c/0x1a0 felix_tag_8021q_teardown+0x130/0x150 felix_teardown+0x3c/0xd8 dsa_tree_teardown_switches+0xbc/0xe0 dsa_unregister_switch+0x168/0x260 felix_pci_remove+0x30/0x60 pci_device_remove+0x4c/0x100 device_release_driver_internal+0x188/0x288 device_links_unbind_consumers+0xfc/0x138 device_release_driver_internal+0xe0/0x288 device_driver_detach+0x24/0x38 unbind_store+0xd8/0x108 drv_attr_store+0x30/0x50 DSA: tree 0 torn down This was somewhat not so easy to spot, because "ocelot-8021q" is not the default tagging protocol, and thus, not everyone who tests the unbinding path may have switched to it beforehand. The default felix_tag_npi_teardown() does not require rtnl_lock() to be held.

Published: 2025-12-09 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53855 is rated Low Risk (3.1/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2023-53855

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 2025-12-09 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53855

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53855

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53855

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-53855 unimportant 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-2023-53855
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53855
suse medium CVE-2023-53855 severity moderate: SUSE including 369 source package names (2.1.3-6.115:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-39.1.21.16, 2.1.3-7.146:kernel-rt-6.4.0-40.1, …), 732 product×package rows across 145 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (145 product lines)): Fixed 385, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 116. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53855/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53855 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 176, released 84, needed 75, not-affected 60. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53855

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53855

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2023-53855

cvelogic Threat Intelligence