# CVE-2023-53141: ila: do not generate empty messages in ila_xlat_nl_cmd_get_mapping()

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel warning and potential instability by requesting an ILA mapping that generates an empty network message.

- **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:** 2 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53141, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53141, GHSA-hg24-xx2g-rc2f, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53141

## What is CVE-2023-53141?

CVE-2023-53141 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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:

ila: do not generate empty messages in ila_xlat_nl_cmd_get_mapping()

ila_xlat_nl_cmd_get_mapping() generates an empty skb,
triggerring a recent sanity check [1].

Instead, return an error code, so that user space
can get it.

[1]
skb_assert_len
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5923 at include/linux/skbuff.h:2527 skb_assert_len include/linux/skbuff.h:2527 [inline]
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5923 at include/linux/skbuff.h:2527 __dev_queue_xmit+0x1bc0/0x3488 net/core/dev.c:4156
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 5923 Comm: syz-executor269 Not tainted 6.2.0-syzkaller-18300-g2ebd1fbb946d #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/21/2023
pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : skb_assert_len include/linux/skbuff.h:2527 [inline]
pc : __dev_queue_xmit+0x1bc0/0x3488 net/core/dev.c:4156
lr : skb_assert_len include/linux/skbuff.h:2527 [inline]
lr : __dev_queue_xmit+0x1bc0/0x3488 net/core/dev.c:4156
sp : ffff80001e0d6c40
x29: ffff80001e0d6e60 x28: dfff800000000000 x27: ffff0000c86328c0
x26: dfff800000000000 x25: ffff0000c8632990 x24: ffff0000c8632a00
x23: 0000000000000000 x22: 1fffe000190c6542 x21: ffff0000c8632a10
x20: ffff0000c8632a00 x19: ffff80001856e000 x18: ffff80001e0d5fc0
x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffff80001235d16c x15: 0000000000000000
x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000001 x12: 0000000000000001
x11: ff80800008353a30 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 21567eaf25bfb600
x8 : 21567eaf25bfb600 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : 0000000000000001
x5 : ffff80001e0d6558 x4 : ffff800015c74760 x3 : ffff800008596744
x2 : 0000000000000001 x1 : 0000000100000000 x0 : 000000000000000e
Call trace:
skb_assert_len include/linux/skbuff.h:2527 [inline]
__dev_queue_xmit+0x1bc0/0x3488 net/core/dev.c:4156
dev_queue_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:3033 [inline]
__netlink_deliver_tap_skb net/netlink/af_netlink.c:307 [inline]
__netlink_deliver_tap+0x45c/0x6f8 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:325
netlink_deliver_tap+0xf4/0x174 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:338
__netlink_sendskb net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1283 [inline]
netlink_sendskb+0x6c/0x154 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1292
netlink_unicast+0x334/0x8d4 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1380
nlmsg_unicast include/net/netlink.h:1099 [inline]
genlmsg_unicast include/net/genetlink.h:433 [inline]
genlmsg_reply include/net/genetlink.h:443 [inline]
ila_xlat_nl_cmd_get_mapping+0x620/0x7d0 net/ipv6/ila/ila_xlat.c:493
genl_family_rcv_msg_doit net/netlink/genetlink.c:968 [inline]
genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1048 [inline]
genl_rcv_msg+0x938/0xc1c net/netlink/genetlink.c:1065
netlink_rcv_skb+0x214/0x3c4 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2574
genl_rcv+0x38/0x50 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1076
netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1339 [inline]
netlink_unicast+0x660/0x8d4 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1365
netlink_sendmsg+0x800/0xae0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1942
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline]
sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:734 [inline]
____sys_sendmsg+0x558/0x844 net/socket.c:2479
___sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2533 [inline]
__sys_sendmsg+0x26c/0x33c net/socket.c:2562
__do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2571 [inline]
__se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2569 [inline]
__arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x80/0x94 net/socket.c:2569
__invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:38 [inline]
invoke_syscall+0x98/0x2c0 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:52
el0_svc_common+0x138/0x258 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:142
do_el0_svc+0x64/0x198 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:193
el0_svc+0x58/0x168 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:637
el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0xf0 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:655
el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:591
irq event stamp: 136484
hardirqs last enabled at (136483): [<ffff800008350244>] __up_console_sem+0x60/0xb4 kernel/printk/printk.c:345
hardirqs last disabled at (136484): [<ffff800012358d60>] el1_dbg+0x24/0x80 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:405
softirqs last enabled at (136418): [<ffff800008020ea8>] softirq_ha
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53141?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53141?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53141 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53141 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-2023-53141 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53141 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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-2023-53141 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-2023-53141/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53141/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53141
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53141
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53141

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53141/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.