# CVE-2023-53204: af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight.

> A data race in the Linux kernel's AF_UNIX socket implementation can lead to inconsistent state and potential denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 15 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53204, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53204, GHSA-rpfp-2r63-7p7p, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53204

## What is CVE-2023-53204?

CVE-2023-53204 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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:

af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight.

user->unix_inflight is changed under spin_lock(unix_gc_lock),
but too_many_unix_fds() reads it locklessly.

Let's annotate the write/read accesses to user->unix_inflight.

BUG: KCSAN: data-race in unix_attach_fds / unix_inflight

write to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44798 on cpu 1:
 unix_inflight+0x157/0x180 net/unix/scm.c:66
 unix_attach_fds+0x147/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:123
 unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline]
 unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950
 unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline]
 unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292
 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline]
 sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748
 ____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494
 ___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548
 __sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577
 __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline]
 __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]
 __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

read to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44814 on cpu 0:
 too_many_unix_fds net/unix/scm.c:101 [inline]
 unix_attach_fds+0x54/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:110
 unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline]
 unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950
 unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline]
 unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292
 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline]
 sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748
 ____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494
 ___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548
 __sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577
 __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline]
 __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline]
 __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

value changed: 0x000000000000000c -> 0x000000000000000d

Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on:
CPU: 0 PID: 44814 Comm: systemd-coredum Not tainted 6.4.0-11989-g6843306689af #6
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53204?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53204?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53204 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53204 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-2023-53204 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53204 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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-2023-53204 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-2023-53204/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53204/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53204
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53204
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53204

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53204/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.