# CVE-2023-52775: net/smc: avoid data corruption caused by decline

> A race condition in the Linux kernel SMC protocol allows data corruption, potentially causing application errors or information disclosure.

- **Severity:** High 8.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 May 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52775, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52775, GHSA-mxqp-c4m3-mg6r, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52775

## What is CVE-2023-52775?

CVE-2023-52775 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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/smc: avoid data corruption caused by decline

We found a data corruption issue during testing of SMC-R on Redis
applications.

The benchmark has a low probability of reporting a strange error as
shown below.

"Error: Protocol error, got "\xe2" as reply type byte"

Finally, we found that the retrieved error data was as follows:

0xE2 0xD4 0xC3 0xD9 0x04 0x00 0x2C 0x20 0xA6 0x56 0x00 0x16 0x3E 0x0C
0xCB 0x04 0x02 0x01 0x00 0x00 0x20 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0xE2

It is quite obvious that this is a SMC DECLINE message, which means that
the applications received SMC protocol message.
We found that this was caused by the following situations:

client                  server
        ¦  clc proposal
        ------------->
        ¦  clc accept
        <-------------
        ¦  clc confirm
        ------------->
wait llc confirm
			send llc confirm
        ¦failed llc confirm
        ¦   x------
(after 2s)timeout
                        wait llc confirm rsp

wait decline

(after 1s) timeout
                        (after 2s) timeout
        ¦   decline
        -------------->
        ¦   decline
        <--------------

As a result, a decline message was sent in the implementation, and this
message was read from TCP by the already-fallback connection.

This patch double the client timeout as 2x of the server value,
With this simple change, the Decline messages should never cross or
collide (during Confirm link timeout).

This issue requires an immediate solution, since the protocol updates
involve a more long-term solution.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52775?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52775?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52775 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52775 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-2023-52775 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52775 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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-2023-52775 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-2023-52775/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52775/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52775
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52775
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52775

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52775/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.