CVE-2023-53186: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: skbuff: Fix a race between coalescing and releasing SKBs Commit 1effe8ca4e34 ("skbuff: fix

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: skbuff: Fix a race between coalescing and releasing SKBs Commit 1effe8ca4e34 ("skbuff: fix

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: skbuff: Fix a race between coalescing and releasing SKBs Commit 1effe8ca4e34 ("skbuff: fix coalescing for page_pool fragment recycling") allowed coalescing to proceed with non page pool page and page pool page when @from is cloned, i.e. to->pp_recycle --> false from->pp_recycle --> true skb_cloned(from) --> true However, it actually requires skb_cloned(@from) to hold true until coalescing finishes in this situation. If the other cloned SKB is released while the merging is in process, from_shinfo->nr_frags will be set to 0 toward the end of the function, causing the increment of frag page _refcount to be unexpectedly skipped resulting in inconsistent reference counts. Later when SKB(@to) is released, it frees the page directly even though the page pool page is still in use, leading to use-after-free or double-free errors. So it should be prohibited. The double-free error message below prompted us to investigate: BUG: Bad page state in process swapper/1 pfn:0e0d1 page:00000000c6548b28 refcount:-1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x2 pfn:0xe0d1 flags: 0xfffffc0000000(node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fff

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.27%, higher than 18% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 31, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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