# CVE-2023-52778: mptcp: deal with large GSO size

> A flaw in the Linux kernel MPTCP implementation allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via large GSO sizes.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 May 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52778, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52778, GHSA-7prp-hfw8-9qcp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52778

## What is CVE-2023-52778?

CVE-2023-52778 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mptcp: deal with large GSO size

After the blamed commit below, the TCP sockets (and the MPTCP subflows)
can build egress packets larger than 64K. That exceeds the maximum DSS
data size, the length being misrepresent on the wire and the stream being
corrupted, as later observed on the receiver:

  WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 9696 at net/mptcp/protocol.c:705 __mptcp_move_skbs_from_subflow+0x2604/0x26e0
  CPU: 0 PID: 9696 Comm: syz-executor.7 Not tainted 6.6.0-rc5-gcd8bdf563d46 #45
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.11.0-2.el7 04/01/2014
  netlink: 8 bytes leftover after parsing attributes in process `syz-executor.4'.
  RIP: 0010:__mptcp_move_skbs_from_subflow+0x2604/0x26e0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:705
  RSP: 0018:ffffc90000006e80 EFLAGS: 00010246
  RAX: ffffffff83e9f674 RBX: ffff88802f45d870 RCX: ffff888102ad0000
  netlink: 8 bytes leftover after parsing attributes in process `syz-executor.4'.
  RDX: 0000000080000303 RSI: 0000000000013908 RDI: 0000000000003908
  RBP: ffffc90000007110 R08: ffffffff83e9e078 R09: 1ffff1100e548c8a
  R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100e548c8b R12: 0000000000013908
  R13: dffffc0000000000 R14: 0000000000003908 R15: 000000000031cf29
  FS:  00007f239c47e700(0000) GS:ffff88811b200000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 00007f239c45cd78 CR3: 000000006a66c006 CR4: 0000000000770ef0
  DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
  DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000600
  PKRU: 55555554
  Call Trace:
   <IRQ>
   mptcp_data_ready+0x263/0xac0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:819
   subflow_data_ready+0x268/0x6d0 net/mptcp/subflow.c:1409
   tcp_data_queue+0x21a1/0x7a60 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:5151
   tcp_rcv_established+0x950/0x1d90 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:6098
   tcp_v6_do_rcv+0x554/0x12f0 net/ipv6/tcp_ipv6.c:1483
   tcp_v6_rcv+0x2e26/0x3810 net/ipv6/tcp_ipv6.c:1749
   ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0xd6b/0x1ae0 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:438
   ip6_input+0x1c5/0x470 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:483
   ipv6_rcv+0xef/0x2c0 include/linux/netfilter.h:304
   __netif_receive_skb+0x1ea/0x6a0 net/core/dev.c:5532
   process_backlog+0x353/0x660 net/core/dev.c:5974
   __napi_poll+0xc6/0x5a0 net/core/dev.c:6536
   net_rx_action+0x6a0/0xfd0 net/core/dev.c:6603
   __do_softirq+0x184/0x524 kernel/softirq.c:553
   do_softirq+0xdd/0x130 kernel/softirq.c:454

Address the issue explicitly bounding the maximum GSO size to what MPTCP
actually allows.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52778?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52778?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52778 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52778 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-2023-52778 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52778 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52778 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-2023-52778/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52778/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52778
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52778
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52778

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52778/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
