CVE-2023-52998 net: fec: Use page_pool_put_full_page when freeing rx buffers
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's FEC network driver causes out-of-memory conditions during repeated interface resets, leading to denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2023-52998?
CVE-2023-52998 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: fec: Use page_pool_put_full_page when freeing rx buffers
The page_pool_release_page was used when freeing rx buffers, and this function just unmaps the page (if mapped) and does not recycle the page. So after hundreds of down/up the eth0, the system will out of memory. For more details, please refer to the following reproduce steps and bug logs. To solve this issue and refer to the doc of page pool, the page_pool_put_full_page should be used to replace page_pool_release_page. Because this API will try to recycle the page if the page refcnt equal to 1. After testing 20000 times, the issue can not be reproduced anymore (about testing 391 times the issue will occur on i.MX8MN-EVK before).
Reproduce steps: Create the test script and run the script. The script content is as follows: LOOPS=20000 i=1 while [ $i -le $LOOPS ] do echo "TINFO:ENET $curface up and down test $i times" org_macaddr=$(cat /sys/class/net/eth0/address) ifconfig eth0 down ifconfig eth0 hw ether $org_macaddr up i=$(expr $i + 1) done sleep 5 if cat /sys/class/net/eth0/operstate | grep 'up';then echo "TEST PASS" else echo "TEST FAIL" fi
Bug detail logs: TINFO:ENET up and down test 391 times [ 850.471205] Qualcomm Atheros AR8031/AR8033 30be0000.ethernet-1:00: attached PHY driver (mii_bus:phy_addr=30be0000.ethernet-1:00, irq=POLL) [ 853.535318] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready [ 853.541694] fec 30be0000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx [ 870.590531] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 199 inflight 60 sec [ 931.006557] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 199 inflight 120 sec TINFO:ENET up and down test 392 times [ 991.426544] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 192 inflight 181 sec [ 1051.838531] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 170 inflight 241 sec [ 1093.751217] Qualcomm Atheros AR8031/AR8033 30be0000.ethernet-1:00: attached PHY driver (mii_bus:phy_addr=30be0000.ethernet-1:00, irq=POLL) [ 1096.446520] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 60 sec [ 1096.831245] fec 30be0000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx [ 1096.839092] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready [ 1112.254526] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 103 inflight 302 sec [ 1156.862533] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 120 sec [ 1172.674516] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 103 inflight 362 sec [ 1217.278532] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 181 sec TINFO:ENET up and down test 393 times [ 1233.086535] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 103 inflight 422 sec [ 1277.698513] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 241 sec [ 1293.502525] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 86 inflight 483 sec [ 1338.110518] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 302 sec [ 1353.918540] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 32 inflight 543 sec [ 1361.179205] Qualcomm Atheros AR8031/AR8033 30be0000.ethernet-1:00: attached PHY driver (mii_bus:phy_addr=30be0000.ethernet-1:00, irq=POLL) [ 1364.255298] fec 30be0000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx [ 1364.263189] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready [ 1371.998532] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 310 inflight 60 sec [ 1398.530542] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 362 sec [ 1414.334539] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 16 inflight 604 sec [ 1432.414520] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 310 inflight 120 sec [ 1458.942523] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 308 inflight 422 sec [ 1474.750521] page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown 16 inflight 664 sec TINFO:ENET up and down test 394 times [ 1492.8305 ---truncated---
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52998?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-52998?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2023-52998 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52998 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-52998, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52998, GHSA-r956-xq9j-f5vj, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52998.