CVE-2024-53236 xsk: Free skb when TX metadata options are invalid

What is CVE-2024-53236?

CVE-2024-53236 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Dec 2024. 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:

xsk: Free skb when TX metadata options are invalid

When a new skb is allocated for transmitting an xsk descriptor, i.e., for every non-multibuf descriptor or the first frag of a multibuf descriptor, but the descriptor is later found to have invalid options set for the TX metadata, the new skb is never freed. This can leak skbs until the send buffer is full which makes sending more packets impossible.

Fix this by freeing the skb in the error path if we are currently dealing with the first frag, i.e., an skb allocated in this iteration of xsk_build_skb.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53236?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-53236?

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-2024-53236 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53236 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-2024-53236, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53236, GHSA-p52c-cc2g-5f23, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53236.