Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2023-54035 json

netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter

published 2025-12-24 10 mo ago modified 2026-08-05 3 mo ago also EUVD-2025-205117

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 3%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter

Set element addition error path decrements reference counter on chains twice: once on element release and again via nft_data_release().

Then, d6b478666ffa ("netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in object reference counter") incorrectly fixed this by removing the stateful object reference count decrement.

Restore the stateful object decrement as in b91d90368837 ("netfilter: nf_tables: fix leaking object reference count") and let nft_data_release() decrement the chain reference counter, so this is done only once.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16, 6.4, 6.4.4, 6.5
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.52-1
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.4.4-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54035

  • kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • rv RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • rtla RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • bpftool RHEL 9 7.3.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • libperf RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • kernel-rt RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • kernel-64k RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4

red hat advisories RHSA-2024:2394RHSA-2024:3421

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-40.1
  • kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-40.1
  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-39.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-39.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-39.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-39.1.21.16
  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.28.1
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.28.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:20845-1SUSE-SU-2026:20876-1SUSE-SU-2026:20477-1SUSE-SU-2026:20498-1SUSE-SU-2026:0315-1SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2023-54035 updated cvss 4.7

kernel: netfilter: nf_tables: fix underflow in chain reference counter

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +12 more
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.0) kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:3421
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, perf 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, rtla 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debug-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +6 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:2394
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) perf 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-debug-devel-matched 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:3421
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) bpftool 7.3.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-64k 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-tools 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, python3-perf 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +28 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:2394
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.0) kernel 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, bpftool 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-core 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-tools 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, python3-perf 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, kernel-modules 5.14.0-70.101.1.el9_0, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:3421
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-kvm 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-modules 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:2394
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.14% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.