# CVE-2023-52977: net: openvswitch: fix flow memory leak in ovs_flow_cmd_new

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Open vSwitch module allows attackers to exhaust system memory, causing denial of service.

- **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:** 27 Mar 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52977, GHSA-qv94-9c4f-29wh, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52977

## What is CVE-2023-52977?

CVE-2023-52977 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. 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: openvswitch: fix flow memory leak in ovs_flow_cmd_new

Syzkaller reports a memory leak of new_flow in ovs_flow_cmd_new() as it is
not freed when an allocation of a key fails.

BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff888116668000 (size 632):
  comm "syz-executor231", pid 1090, jiffies 4294844701 (age 18.871s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
  backtrace:
    [<00000000defa3494>] kmem_cache_zalloc include/linux/slab.h:654 [inline]
    [<00000000defa3494>] ovs_flow_alloc+0x19/0x180 net/openvswitch/flow_table.c:77
    [<00000000c67d8873>] ovs_flow_cmd_new+0x1de/0xd40 net/openvswitch/datapath.c:957
    [<0000000010a539a8>] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0x22d/0x330 net/netlink/genetlink.c:739
    [<00000000dff3302d>] genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:783 [inline]
    [<00000000dff3302d>] genl_rcv_msg+0x328/0x590 net/netlink/genetlink.c:800
    [<000000000286dd87>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x153/0x430 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2515
    [<0000000061fed410>] genl_rcv+0x24/0x40 net/netlink/genetlink.c:811
    [<000000009dc0f111>] netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1313 [inline]
    [<000000009dc0f111>] netlink_unicast+0x545/0x7f0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1339
    [<000000004a5ee816>] netlink_sendmsg+0x8e7/0xde0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1934
    [<00000000482b476f>] sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:651 [inline]
    [<00000000482b476f>] sock_sendmsg+0x152/0x190 net/socket.c:671
    [<00000000698574ba>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x70a/0x870 net/socket.c:2356
    [<00000000d28d9e11>] ___sys_sendmsg+0xf3/0x170 net/socket.c:2410
    [<0000000083ba9120>] __sys_sendmsg+0xe5/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2439
    [<00000000c00628f8>] do_syscall_64+0x30/0x40 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46
    [<000000004abfdcf4>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x61/0xc6

To fix this the patch rearranges the goto labels to reflect the order of
object allocations and adds appropriate goto statements on the error
paths.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52977?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52977?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52977 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52977 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-2023-52977 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52977 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. 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-2023-52977 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-2023-52977/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52977/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52977
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52977
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52977

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52977/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.