CVE-2023-53103

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bonding: restore bond's IFF_SLAVE flag if a non-eth dev enslave fails syzbot reported a warning[1] where the bond device itself is a slave and we try to enslave a non-ethernet device as the first slave which fails but then in the error path when ether_setup() restores the bond device it also clears all flags. In my previous fix[2] I restored the IFF_MASTER flag, but I didn't consider the case that the bond device itself might also be a slave with IFF_SLAVE set, so we need to restore that flag as well. Use the bond_ether_setup helper which does the right thing and restores the bond's flags properly. Steps to reproduce using a nlmon dev: $ ip l add nlmon0 type nlmon $ ip l add bond1 type bond $ ip l add bond2 type bond $ ip l set bond1 master bond2 $ ip l set dev nlmon0 master bond1 $ ip -d l sh dev bond1 22: bond1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,MASTER> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue master bond2 state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000 (now bond1's IFF_SLAVE flag is gone and we'll hit a warning[3] if we try to delete it) [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?id=391c7b1f6522182899efba27d891f1743e8eb3ef [2] commit 7d5cd2ce5292 ("bonding: correctly handle bonding type change on enslave failure") [3] example warning: [ 27.008664] bond1: (slave nlmon0): The slave device specified does not support setting the MAC address [ 27.008692] bond1: (slave nlmon0): Error -95 calling set_mac_address [ 32.464639] bond1 (unregistering): Released all slaves [ 32.464685] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 32.464686] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 2004 at net/core/dev.c:10829 unregister_netdevice_many+0x72a/0x780 [ 32.464694] Modules linked in: br_netfilter bridge bonding virtio_net [ 32.464699] CPU: 1 PID: 2004 Comm: ip Kdump: loaded Not tainted 5.18.0-rc3+ #47 [ 32.464703] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.1-2.fc37 04/01/2014 [ 32.464704] RIP: 0010:unregister_netdevice_many+0x72a/0x780 [ 32.464707] Code: 99 fd ff ff ba 90 1a 00 00 48 c7 c6 f4 02 66 96 48 c7 c7 20 4d 35 96 c6 05 fa c7 2b 02 01 e8 be 6f 4a 00 0f 0b e9 73 fd ff ff <0f> 0b e9 5f fd ff ff 80 3d e3 c7 2b 02 00 0f 85 3b fd ff ff ba 59 [ 32.464710] RSP: 0018:ffffa006422d7820 EFLAGS: 00010206 [ 32.464712] RAX: ffff8f6e077140a0 RBX: ffffa006422d7888 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 32.464714] RDX: ffff8f6e12edbe58 RSI: 0000000000000296 RDI: ffffffff96d4a520 [ 32.464716] RBP: ffff8f6e07714000 R08: ffffffff96d63600 R09: ffffa006422d7728 [ 32.464717] R10: 0000000000000ec0 R11: ffffffff9698c988 R12: ffff8f6e12edb140 [ 32.464719] R13: dead000000000122 R14: dead000000000100 R15: ffff8f6e12edb140 [ 32.464723] FS: 00007f297c2f1740(0000) GS:ffff8f6e5d900000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 32.464725] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 32.464726] CR2: 00007f297bf1c800 CR3: 00000000115e8000 CR4: 0000000000350ee0 [ 32.464730] Call Trace: [ 32.464763] <TASK> [ 32.464767] rtnl_dellink+0x13e/0x380 [ 32.464776] ? cred_has_capability.isra.0+0x68/0x100 [ 32.464780] ? __rtnl_unlock+0x33/0x60 [ 32.464783] ? bpf_lsm_capset+0x10/0x10 [ 32.464786] ? security_capable+0x36/0x50 [ 32.464790] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x14e/0x3b0 [ 32.464792] ? _copy_to_iter+0xb1/0x790 [ 32.464796] ? post_alloc_hook+0xa0/0x160 [ 32.464799] ? rtnl_calcit.isra.0+0x110/0x110 [ 32.464802] netlink_rcv_skb+0x50/0xf0 [ 32.464806] netlink_unicast+0x216/0x340 [ 32.464809] netlink_sendmsg+0x23f/0x480 [ 32.464812] sock_sendmsg+0x5e/0x60 [ 32.464815] ____sys_sendmsg+0x22c/0x270 [ 32.464818] ? import_iovec+0x17/0x20 [ 32.464821] ? sendmsg_copy_msghdr+0x59/0x90 [ 32.464823] ? do_set_pte+0xa0/0xe0 [ 32.464828] ___sys_sendmsg+0x81/0xc0 [ 32.464832] ? mod_objcg_state+0xc6/0x300 [ 32.464835] ? refill_obj_stock+0xa9/0x160 [ 32.464838] ? memcg_slab_free_hook+0x1a5/0x1f0 [ 32.464842] __sys_sendm ---truncated---

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2025-05-02 16:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-11-05 21:17 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Details

Published

2025-05-02 16:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-11-05 21:17 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Record status

Analyzed

Affected

• Linux Kernel < 5.15.104
• Linux Kernel < 6.1.21
• Linux Kernel < 6.2.8
• Linux Kernel 4.2
• Linux Kernel 6.3

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.5

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High