CVE-2023-53499 virtio_net: Fix error unwinding of XDP initialization

What is CVE-2023-53499?

CVE-2023-53499 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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:

virtio_net: Fix error unwinding of XDP initialization

When initializing XDP in virtnet_open(), some rq xdp initialization may hit an error causing net device open failed. However, previous rqs have already initialized XDP and enabled NAPI, which is not the expected behavior. Need to roll back the previous rq initialization to avoid leaks in error unwinding of init code.

Also extract helper functions of disable and enable queue pairs. Use newly introduced disable helper function in error unwinding and virtnet_close. Use enable helper function in virtnet_open.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53499?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53499?

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-2023-53499 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53499 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53499, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53499, GHSA-vqh8-wgc6-cwjc, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53499, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53499.