CVE-2023-53855 net: dsa: ocelot: call dsa_tag_8021q_unregister() under rtnl_lock() on driver remove
A race condition in the Linux kernel Ocelot DSA driver causes a kernel warning and potential instability when unbinding the driver under specific conditions.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-53855?
CVE-2023-53855 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 Dec 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: dsa: ocelot: call dsa_tag_8021q_unregister() under rtnl_lock() on driver remove
When the tagging protocol in current use is "ocelot-8021q" and we unbind the driver, we see this splat:
$ echo '0000:00:00.2' > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/fsl_enetc/unbind mscc_felix 0000:00:00.5 swp0: left promiscuous mode sja1105 spi2.0: Link is Down DSA: tree 1 torn down mscc_felix 0000:00:00.5 swp2: left promiscuous mode sja1105 spi2.2: Link is Down DSA: tree 3 torn down fsl_enetc 0000:00:00.2 eno2: left promiscuous mode mscc_felix 0000:00:00.5: Link is Down ------------[ cut here ]------------ RTNL: assertion failed at net/dsa/tag_8021q.c (409) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 329 at net/dsa/tag_8021q.c:409 dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 329 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.5.0-rc3+ #771 pc : dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 lr : dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 Call trace: dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x12c/0x1a0 felix_tag_8021q_teardown+0x130/0x150 felix_teardown+0x3c/0xd8 dsa_tree_teardown_switches+0xbc/0xe0 dsa_unregister_switch+0x168/0x260 felix_pci_remove+0x30/0x60 pci_device_remove+0x4c/0x100 device_release_driver_internal+0x188/0x288 device_links_unbind_consumers+0xfc/0x138 device_release_driver_internal+0xe0/0x288 device_driver_detach+0x24/0x38 unbind_store+0xd8/0x108 drv_attr_store+0x30/0x50 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- ------------[ cut here ]------------ RTNL: assertion failed at net/8021q/vlan_core.c (376) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 329 at net/8021q/vlan_core.c:376 vlan_vid_del+0x1b8/0x1f0 CPU: 1 PID: 329 Comm: bash Tainted: G W 6.5.0-rc3+ #771 pc : vlan_vid_del+0x1b8/0x1f0 lr : vlan_vid_del+0x1b8/0x1f0 dsa_tag_8021q_unregister+0x8c/0x1a0 felix_tag_8021q_teardown+0x130/0x150 felix_teardown+0x3c/0xd8 dsa_tree_teardown_switches+0xbc/0xe0 dsa_unregister_switch+0x168/0x260 felix_pci_remove+0x30/0x60 pci_device_remove+0x4c/0x100 device_release_driver_internal+0x188/0x288 device_links_unbind_consumers+0xfc/0x138 device_release_driver_internal+0xe0/0x288 device_driver_detach+0x24/0x38 unbind_store+0xd8/0x108 drv_attr_store+0x30/0x50 DSA: tree 0 torn down
This was somewhat not so easy to spot, because "ocelot-8021q" is not the default tagging protocol, and thus, not everyone who tests the unbinding path may have switched to it beforehand. The default felix_tag_npi_teardown() does not require rtnl_lock() to be held.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53855?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53855?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53855 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53855 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53855, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53855, GHSA-c8r8-vrhj-v7vp, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53855, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53855.