Bug 2395360 (CVE-2023-53189)

Summary: CVE-2023-53189 kernel: ipv6/addrconf: fix a potential refcount underflow for idev
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-09-15 15:09:37 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ipv6/addrconf: fix a potential refcount underflow for idev

Now in addrconf_mod_rs_timer(), reference idev depends on whether
rs_timer is not pending. Then modify rs_timer timeout.

There is a time gap in [1], during which if the pending rs_timer
becomes not pending. It will miss to hold idev, but the rs_timer
is activated. Thus rs_timer callback function addrconf_rs_timer()
will be executed and put idev later without holding idev. A refcount
underflow issue for idev can be caused by this.

	if (!timer_pending(&idev->rs_timer))
		in6_dev_hold(idev);
		  <--------------[1]
	mod_timer(&idev->rs_timer, jiffies + when);

To fix the issue, hold idev if mod_timer() return 0.