CVE-2023-53987

ping: Fix potentail NULL deref for /proc/net/icmp.

N/A

Published: December 24, 2025 at 10:55 AM UTC

Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:46 AM UTC

1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

Using Linux by Linux?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect Linux - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available

Start Free Sign In

Severity

N/A

Exploit prediction

EPSS 0.2%

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ping: Fix potentail NULL deref for /proc/net/icmp. After commit dbca1596bbb0 ("ping: convert to RCU lookups, get rid of rwlock"), we use RCU for ping sockets, but we should use spinlock for /proc/net/icmp to avoid a potential NULL deref mentioned in the previous patch. Let's go back to using spinlock there. Note we can convert ping sockets to use hlist instead of hlist_nulls because we do not use SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU for ping sockets.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Linux Kernel · Linux

95%

v ≥ 5.19.25.19.2 ≤ v < 5.206.0 ≤ v < 6.1.246.0 ≤ v < 6.2.116.0 ≤ v < 6.35.19.2 6.0dbca1596bbb08318f5e3b3b99f8ca0a0d3830a65de3d723a3985f282a8c9e468d1e198616eb291c8

Vendor states this is fixed in 176cbb6da28f36506cc60a4bec4ab8df0c16713a (fixed)

Vendor states this is fixed in 5a08a32e624908890aa0a2eb442bb6a7669891a8 (fixed)

Vendor states this is fixed in ab5fb73ffa01072b4d8031cc05801fa1cb653bee (fixed)

Affected range stops below 5.20, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Vendor states this is fixed in 6.0 (unaffected)

Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.24 (unaffected)

Vendor states this is fixed in 6.2.11 (unaffected)

Vendor states this is fixed in 6.3 (unaffected)