# CVE-2023-54051: net: do not allow gso_size to be set to GSO_BY_FRAGS

> A missing check in the Linux kernel network stack allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted GSO packets.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54051, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54051, GHSA-jqw4-r57w-p985, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54051

## What is CVE-2023-54051?

CVE-2023-54051 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: do not allow gso_size to be set to GSO_BY_FRAGS

One missing check in virtio_net_hdr_to_skb() allowed
syzbot to crash kernels again [1]

Do not allow gso_size to be set to GSO_BY_FRAGS (0xffff),
because this magic value is used by the kernel.

[1]
general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc000000000e: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000070-0x0000000000000077]
CPU: 0 PID: 5039 Comm: syz-executor401 Not tainted 6.5.0-rc5-next-20230809-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/26/2023
RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0x1a52/0x3ef0 net/core/skbuff.c:4500
Code: 00 00 00 e9 ab eb ff ff e8 6b 96 5d f9 48 8b 84 24 00 01 00 00 48 8d 78 70 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <0f> b6 04 02 84 c0 74 08 3c 03 0f 8e ea 21 00 00 48 8b 84 24 00 01
RSP: 0018:ffffc90003d3f1c8 EFLAGS: 00010202
RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 000000000001fffe RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 000000000000000e RSI: ffffffff882a3115 RDI: 0000000000000070
RBP: ffffc90003d3f378 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 000000000000ffff
R10: 000000000000ffff R11: 5ee4a93e456187d6 R12: 000000000001ffc6
R13: dffffc0000000000 R14: 0000000000000008 R15: 000000000000ffff
FS: 00005555563f2380(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000020020000 CR3: 000000001626d000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
<TASK>
udp6_ufo_fragment+0x9d2/0xd50 net/ipv6/udp_offload.c:109
ipv6_gso_segment+0x5c4/0x17b0 net/ipv6/ip6_offload.c:120
skb_mac_gso_segment+0x292/0x610 net/core/gso.c:53
__skb_gso_segment+0x339/0x710 net/core/gso.c:124
skb_gso_segment include/net/gso.h:83 [inline]
validate_xmit_skb+0x3a5/0xf10 net/core/dev.c:3625
__dev_queue_xmit+0x8f0/0x3d60 net/core/dev.c:4329
dev_queue_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:3082 [inline]
packet_xmit+0x257/0x380 net/packet/af_packet.c:276
packet_snd net/packet/af_packet.c:3087 [inline]
packet_sendmsg+0x24c7/0x5570 net/packet/af_packet.c:3119
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:727 [inline]
sock_sendmsg+0xd9/0x180 net/socket.c:750
____sys_sendmsg+0x6ac/0x940 net/socket.c:2496
___sys_sendmsg+0x135/0x1d0 net/socket.c:2550
__sys_sendmsg+0x117/0x1e0 net/socket.c:2579
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x38/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
RIP: 0033:0x7ff27cdb34d9

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54051?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54051?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54051 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54051 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54051 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54051 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54051 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-54051/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54051/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54051
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54051
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54051

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54051/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.