# CVE-2023-52992: bpf: Skip task with pid=1 in send_signal_common()

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel panic by using a BPF program to send a killing signal to the init process, causing a system crash.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52992, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52992, GHSA-m43r-r9j3-6gfp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52992

## What is CVE-2023-52992?

CVE-2023-52992 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:

bpf: Skip task with pid=1 in send_signal_common()

The following kernel panic can be triggered when a task with pid=1 attaches
a prog that attempts to send killing signal to itself, also see [1] for more
details:

  Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b
  CPU: 3 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Not tainted 6.1.0-09652-g59fe41b5255f #148
  Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
  dump_stack_lvl+0x100/0x178 lib/dump_stack.c:106
  panic+0x2c4/0x60f kernel/panic.c:275
  do_exit.cold+0x63/0xe4 kernel/exit.c:789
  do_group_exit+0xd4/0x2a0 kernel/exit.c:950
  get_signal+0x2460/0x2600 kernel/signal.c:2858
  arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x78/0x5d0 arch/x86/kernel/signal.c:306
  exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:168 [inline]
  exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x15f/0x250 kernel/entry/common.c:203
  __syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:285 [inline]
  syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1d/0x50 kernel/entry/common.c:296
  do_syscall_64+0x44/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:86
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

So skip task with pid=1 in bpf_send_signal_common() to avoid the panic.

  [1] https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20221222043507.33037-1-sunhao.th@gmail.com

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52992?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52992?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52992 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52992 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-2023-52992 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52992 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-2023-52992 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-2023-52992/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52992/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52992
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52992
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52992

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52992/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.