Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
Linux Linux — skbuff: skb_segment, Call zero copy functions before using skbuff frags
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
L L L N U N N H 5.5 .0020 10.2 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
Linux bf5c25d608613eaf4dcdba5a9cac5b2afe67d635 – —
Linux 4.16 – 4.19.295
TIMELINE
Sep 16 Reserved by Linux
Sep 17 Published (CNA: Linux)
Aug 4 RESCORED — CVE-2023-53354 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 5.5 (NVD).
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
skbuff: skb_segment, Call zero copy functions before using skbuff frags
Commit bf5c25d60861 ("skbuff: in skb_segment, call zerocopy functions
once per nskb") added the call to zero copy functions in skb_segment().
The change introduced a bug in skb_segment() because skb_orphan_frags()
may possibly change the number of fragments or allocate new fragments
altogether leaving nrfrags and frag to point to the old values. This can
cause a panic with stacktrace like the one below.
[ 193.894380] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000bc
[ 193.895273] CPU: 13 PID: 18164 Comm: vh-net-17428 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G O 5.15.123+ #26
[ 193.903919] RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0xb0e/0x12f0
[ 194.021892] Call Trace:
[ 194.027422] <TASK>
[ 194.072861] tcp_gso_segment+0x107/0x540
[ 194.082031] inet_gso_segment+0x15c/0x3d0
[ 194.090783] skb_mac_gso_segment+0x9f/0x110
[ 194.095016] __skb_gso_segment+0xc1/0x190
[ 194.103131] netem_enqueue+0x290/0xb10 [sch_netem]
[ 194.107071] dev_qdisc_enqueue+0x16/0x70
[ 194.110884] __dev_queue_xmit+0x63b/0xb30
[ 194.121670] bond_start_xmit+0x159/0x380 [bonding]
[ 194.128506] dev_hard_start_xmit+0xc3/0x1e0
[ 194.131787] __dev_queue_xmit+0x8a0/0xb30
[ 194.138225] macvlan_start_xmit+0x4f/0x100 [macvlan]
[ 194.141477] dev_hard_start_xmit+0xc3/0x1e0
[ 194.144622] sch_direct_xmit+0xe3/0x280
[ 194.147748] __dev_queue_xmit+0x54a/0xb30
[ 194.154131] tap_get_user+0x2a8/0x9c0 [tap]
[ 194.157358] tap_sendmsg+0x52/0x8e0 [tap]
[ 194.167049] handle_tx_zerocopy+0x14e/0x4c0 [vhost_net]
[ 194.173631] handle_tx+0xcd/0xe0 [vhost_net]
[ 194.176959] vhost_worker+0x76/0xb0 [vhost]
[ 194.183667] kthread+0x118/0x140
[ 194.190358] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30
[ 194.193670] </TASK>
In this case calling skb_orphan_frags() updated nr_frags leaving nrfrags
local variable in skb_segment() stale. This resulted in the code hitting
i >= nrfrags prematurely and trying to move to next frag_skb using
list_skb pointer, which was NULL, and caused kernel panic. Move the call
to zero copy functions before using frags and nr_frags.
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
| September 16, 2025 | Reserved | Reserved by Linux |
| September 17, 2025 | Published | Published (CNA: Linux) |
| August 4, 2026 | RESCORED | RESCORED — CVE-2023-53354 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 5.5 (NVD). |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 2 rows
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
| Linux | Linux | — | bf5c25d608613eaf4dcdba5a9cac5b2afe67d635 | — |
| Linux | Linux | — | 4.16 | 4.19.295 |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2023-53354 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.