# CVE-2023-54226: af_unix: Fix data races around sk->sk_shutdown.

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

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54226, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54226, GHSA-hm7q-645m-qhpj, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54226

## What is CVE-2023-54226?

CVE-2023-54226 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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:

af_unix: Fix data races around sk->sk_shutdown.

KCSAN found a data race around sk->sk_shutdown where unix_release_sock()
and unix_shutdown() update it under unix_state_lock(), OTOH unix_poll()
and unix_dgram_poll() read it locklessly.

We need to annotate the writes and reads with WRITE_ONCE() and READ_ONCE().

BUG: KCSAN: data-race in unix_poll / unix_release_sock

write to 0xffff88800d0f8aec of 1 bytes by task 264 on cpu 0:
 unix_release_sock+0x75c/0x910 net/unix/af_unix.c:631
 unix_release+0x59/0x80 net/unix/af_unix.c:1042
 __sock_release+0x7d/0x170 net/socket.c:653
 sock_close+0x19/0x30 net/socket.c:1397
 __fput+0x179/0x5e0 fs/file_table.c:321
 ____fput+0x15/0x20 fs/file_table.c:349
 task_work_run+0x116/0x1a0 kernel/task_work.c:179
 resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:49 [inline]
 exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:171 [inline]
 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x174/0x180 kernel/entry/common.c:204
 __syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:286 [inline]
 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1a/0x30 kernel/entry/common.c:297
 do_syscall_64+0x4b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:86
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

read to 0xffff88800d0f8aec of 1 bytes by task 222 on cpu 1:
 unix_poll+0xa3/0x2a0 net/unix/af_unix.c:3170
 sock_poll+0xcf/0x2b0 net/socket.c:1385
 vfs_poll include/linux/poll.h:88 [inline]
 ep_item_poll.isra.0+0x78/0xc0 fs/eventpoll.c:855
 ep_send_events fs/eventpoll.c:1694 [inline]
 ep_poll fs/eventpoll.c:1823 [inline]
 do_epoll_wait+0x6c4/0xea0 fs/eventpoll.c:2258
 __do_sys_epoll_wait fs/eventpoll.c:2270 [inline]
 __se_sys_epoll_wait fs/eventpoll.c:2265 [inline]
 __x64_sys_epoll_wait+0xcc/0x190 fs/eventpoll.c:2265
 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+0x72/0xdc

value changed: 0x00 -> 0x03

Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on:
CPU: 1 PID: 222 Comm: dbus-broker Not tainted 6.3.0-rc7-02330-gca6270c12e20 #2
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54226?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54226?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54226 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54226 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54226 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54226 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 Dec 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-2023-54226 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-2023-54226/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54226/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54226
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54226
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54226

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54226/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.