CVE-2023-53204: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Fix data-races around user->unix_inflight. user->unix_inflight is changed under spin_lock(unix_gc_lock), but too_many_unix_fds() reads it locklessly. Let's annotate the write/read accesses to user->unix_inflight. BUG: KCSAN: data-race in unix_attach_fds / unix_inflight write to 0xffffffff8546f2d0 of 8 bytes by task 44798 on cpu 1: unix_inflight+0x157/0x180 net/unix/scm.c:66 unix_attach_fds+0x147/0x1e0 net/unix/scm.c:123 unix_scm_to_skb net/unix/af_unix.c:1827 [inline] unix_dgram_sendmsg+0x46a/0x14f0 net/unix/af_unix.c:1950 unix_seqpacket_sendmsg net/unix/af_unix.c:2308 [inline] unix_seqpacket_sendmsg+0xba/0x130 net/unix/af_unix.c:2292 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:725 [inline] sock_sendmsg+0x148/0x160 net/socket.c:748 ____sys_sendmsg+0x4e4/0x610 net/socket.c:2494 ___sys_sendmsg+0xc6/0x140 net/socket.c:2548 __sys_sendmsg+0x94/0x140 net/socket.c:2577 __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2586 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2584 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x45/0x50 net/socket.c:2584 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 en

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 0.12%, higher than 1% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 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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