CVE-2023-53619 PUBLISHED

netfilter: conntrack: Avoid nf_ct_helper_hash uses after free

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 07.10.2025 Published: 07.10.2025 Updated: 07.10.2025

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

netfilter: conntrack: Avoid nf_ct_helper_hash uses after free

If nf_conntrack_init_start() fails (for example due to a register_nf_conntrack_bpf() failure), the nf_conntrack_helper_fini() clean-up path frees the nf_ct_helper_hash map.

When built with NF_CONNTRACK=y, further netfilter modules (e.g: netfilter_conntrack_ftp) can still be loaded and call nf_conntrack_helpers_register(), independently of whether nf_conntrack initialized correctly. This accesses the nf_ct_helper_hash dangling pointer and causes a uaf, possibly leading to random memory corruption.

This patch guards nf_conntrack_helper_register() from accessing a freed or uninitialized nf_ct_helper_hash pointer and fixes possible uses-after-free when loading a conntrack module.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 4ee69c91cb8f9ca144bc0861969e5a1a3c6152a7 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 00716f25f9697d02a0d9bd622575c7c7321ba3d0 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 61c7a5256543ae7d24cd9d21853d514c8632e1e9 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 8289d422f5e484efe4a565fe18e862ecd621c175 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 6f03ce2f1abcb9f9d0511e3659ca6eb60e39f566 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 05561f822f27b9fa88fa5504ddec34bf38833034 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to fce5cc7cbd4b92f979bf02c9ec5fb69aaeba92d7 (excl.)
  • affected from 12f7a505331e6b2754684b509f2ac8f0011ce644 to 6eef7a2b933885a17679eb8ed0796ddf0ee5309b (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.6 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.6 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 4.14.322 to 4.14.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 4.19.291 to 4.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.4.251 to 5.4.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.10.188 to 5.10.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.121 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.39 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.4.4 to 6.4.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.5 to * (incl.)

References