# CVE-2023-53590: sctp: add a refcnt in sctp_stream_priorities to avoid a nested loop

> A nested loop in the Linux kernel SCTP implementation can cause a CPU soft lockup, leading to a denial of service.

- **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:** 4 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53590, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53590, GHSA-h343-797x-8cg9, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53590

## What is CVE-2023-53590?

CVE-2023-53590 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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:

sctp: add a refcnt in sctp_stream_priorities to avoid a nested loop

With this refcnt added in sctp_stream_priorities, we don't need to
traverse all streams to check if the prio is used by other streams
when freeing one stream's prio in sctp_sched_prio_free_sid(). This
can avoid a nested loop (up to 65535 * 65535), which may cause a
stuck as Ying reported:

    watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#23 stuck for 26s! [ksoftirqd/23:136]
    Call Trace:
     <TASK>
     sctp_sched_prio_free_sid+0xab/0x100 [sctp]
     sctp_stream_free_ext+0x64/0xa0 [sctp]
     sctp_stream_free+0x31/0x50 [sctp]
     sctp_association_free+0xa5/0x200 [sctp]

Note that it doesn't need to use refcount_t type for this counter,
as its accessing is always protected under the sock lock.

v1->v2:
 - add a check in sctp_sched_prio_set to avoid the possible prio_head
   refcnt overflow.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53590?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53590?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53590 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53590 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-2023-53590 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53590 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Oct 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-2023-53590 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-2023-53590/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53590/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53590
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53590
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53590

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53590/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.