# CVE-2023-52906: net/sched: act_mpls: Fix warning during failed attribute validation > A kernel warning triggered by invalid netlink attribute validation can lead to a denial of service in the Linux kernel's MPLS action handling. - **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 Aug 2024 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52906, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52906, GHSA-9w85-68h7-c4c7, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52906 ## What is CVE-2023-52906? CVE-2023-52906 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Aug 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: net/sched: act_mpls: Fix warning during failed attribute validation The 'TCA_MPLS_LABEL' attribute is of 'NLA_U32' type, but has a validation type of 'NLA_VALIDATE_FUNCTION'. This is an invalid combination according to the comment above 'struct nla_policy': " Meaning of `validate' field, use via NLA_POLICY_VALIDATE_FN: NLA_BINARY Validation function called for the attribute. All other Unused - but note that it's a union " This can trigger the warning [1] in nla_get_range_unsigned() when validation of the attribute fails. Despite being of 'NLA_U32' type, the associated 'min'/'max' fields in the policy are negative as they are aliased by the 'validate' field. Fix by changing the attribute type to 'NLA_BINARY' which is consistent with the above comment and all other users of NLA_POLICY_VALIDATE_FN(). As a result, move the length validation to the validation function. No regressions in MPLS tests: # ./tdc.py -f tc-tests/actions/mpls.json [...] # echo $? 0 [1] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 17743 at lib/nlattr.c:118 nla_get_range_unsigned+0x1d8/0x1e0 lib/nlattr.c:117 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 17743 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc8 #3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.13.0-48-gd9c812dda519-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:nla_get_range_unsigned+0x1d8/0x1e0 lib/nlattr.c:117 [...] Call Trace: __netlink_policy_dump_write_attr+0x23d/0x990 net/netlink/policy.c:310 netlink_policy_dump_write_attr+0x22/0x30 net/netlink/policy.c:411 netlink_ack_tlv_fill net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2454 [inline] netlink_ack+0x546/0x760 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2506 netlink_rcv_skb+0x1b7/0x240 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2546 rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x20 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6109 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x5e9/0x6b0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 netlink_sendmsg+0x739/0x860 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:734 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x38f/0x500 net/socket.c:2482 ___sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2536 [inline] __sys_sendmsg+0x197/0x230 net/socket.c:2565 __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2574 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2572 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x42/0x50 net/socket.c:2572 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x2b/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52906? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-52906? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-52906 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52906 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-2023-52906 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-52906 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Aug 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-2023-52906 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-2023-52906/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52906/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52906 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52906 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52906 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52906/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.