# CVE-2023-52610: net/sched: act_ct: fix skb leak and crash on ooo frags
> A flaw in the Linux kernel's connection tracking action allows remote attackers to cause a system crash via out-of-order fragmented packets.
- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52610, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52610, GHSA-rg96-q483-7789, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-52610, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52610
## What is CVE-2023-52610?
CVE-2023-52610 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Mar 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
### Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/sched: act_ct: fix skb leak and crash on ooo frags
act_ct adds skb->users before defragmentation. If frags arrive in order,
the last frag's reference is reset in:
inet_frag_reasm_prepare
skb_morph
which is not straightforward.
However when frags arrive out of order, nobody unref the last frag, and
all frags are leaked. The situation is even worse, as initiating packet
capture can lead to a crash[0] when skb has been cloned and shared at the
same time.
Fix the issue by removing skb_get() before defragmentation. act_ct
returns TC_ACT_CONSUMED when defrag failed or in progress.
[0]:
[ 843.804823] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 843.809659] kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:2091!
[ 843.814516] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
[ 843.819296] CPU: 7 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/7 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S 6.7.0-rc3 #2
[ 843.824107] Hardware name: XFUSION 1288H V6/BC13MBSBD, BIOS 1.29 11/25/2022
[ 843.828953] RIP: 0010:pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300
[ 843.833805] Code: 8b 70 28 48 85 f6 74 82 48 83 c6 08 bf 01 00 00 00 e8 38 bd ff ff 8b 83 c0 00 00 00 48 03 83 c8 00 00 00 e9 62 ff ff ff 0f 0b <0f> 0b e8 8d d0 ff ff e9 b3 fd ff ff 81 7c 24 14 40 01 00 00 4c 89
[ 843.843698] RSP: 0018:ffffc9000cce07c0 EFLAGS: 00010202
[ 843.848524] RAX: 0000000000000002 RBX: ffff88811a211d00 RCX: 0000000000000820
[ 843.853299] RDX: 0000000000000640 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff88811a211d00
[ 843.857974] RBP: ffff888127d39518 R08: 00000000bee97314 R09: 0000000000000000
[ 843.862584] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffff8881109f0000 R12: 0000000000000880
[ 843.867147] R13: ffff888127d39580 R14: 0000000000000640 R15: ffff888170f7b900
[ 843.871680] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff889ffffc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 843.876242] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[ 843.880778] CR2: 00007fa42affcfb8 CR3: 000000011433a002 CR4: 0000000000770ef0
[ 843.885336] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[ 843.889809] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[ 843.894229] PKRU: 55555554
[ 843.898539] Call Trace:
[ 843.902772]
[ 843.906922] ? __die_body+0x1e/0x60
[ 843.911032] ? die+0x3c/0x60
[ 843.915037] ? do_trap+0xe2/0x110
[ 843.918911] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300
[ 843.922687] ? do_error_trap+0x65/0x80
[ 843.926342] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300
[ 843.929905] ? exc_invalid_op+0x50/0x60
[ 843.933398] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300
[ 843.936835] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20
[ 843.940226] ? pskb_expand_head+0x2ac/0x300
[ 843.943580] inet_frag_reasm_prepare+0xd1/0x240
[ 843.946904] ip_defrag+0x5d4/0x870
[ 843.950132] nf_ct_handle_fragments+0xec/0x130 [nf_conntrack]
[ 843.953334] tcf_ct_act+0x252/0xd90 [act_ct]
[ 843.956473] ? tcf_mirred_act+0x516/0x5a0 [act_mirred]
[ 843.959657] tcf_action_exec+0xa1/0x160
[ 843.962823] fl_classify+0x1db/0x1f0 [cls_flower]
[ 843.966010] ? skb_clone+0x53/0xc0
[ 843.969173] tcf_classify+0x24d/0x420
[ 843.972333] tc_run+0x8f/0xf0
[ 843.975465] __netif_receive_skb_core+0x67a/0x1080
[ 843.978634] ? dev_gro_receive+0x249/0x730
[ 843.981759] __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x12d/0x260
[ 843.984869] netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1cb/0x2f0
[ 843.987957] ? mlx5e_handle_rx_cqe_mpwrq_rep+0xfa/0x1a0 [mlx5_core]
[ 843.991170] napi_complete_done+0x72/0x1a0
[ 843.994305] mlx5e_napi_poll+0x28c/0x6d0 [mlx5_core]
[ 843.997501] __napi_poll+0x25/0x1b0
[ 844.000627] net_rx_action+0x256/0x330
[ 844.003705] __do_softirq+0xb3/0x29b
[ 844.006718] irq_exit_rcu+0x9e/0xc0
[ 844.009672] common_interrupt+0x86/0xa0
[ 844.012537]
[ 844.015285]
[ 844.017937] asm_common_interrupt+0x26/0x40
[ 844.020591] RIP: 0010:acpi_safe_halt+0x1b/0x20
[ 844.023247] Code: ff 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 65 48 8b 04 25 00 18 03 00 48 8b 00 a8 08 75 0c 66 90 0f 00 2d 81 d0 44 00 fb
---truncated---
Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)
## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52610?
It affects 1 product.
Products: Linux kernel.
## How do I fix CVE-2023-52610?
Apply the vendor's patch.
## Is CVE-2023-52610 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52610 in the wild and no public exploit code.
## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
## Fix prompt for AI coding agents
```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52610 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2023-52610 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Mar 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52610 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.
Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.
Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52610/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52610/index.md)
```
## Sources
- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52610
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52610
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52610
---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52610/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.