CVE-2023-53809

l2tp: Avoid possible recursive deadlock in l2tp_tunnel_register()

State
Published
Severity
Not scored
Published
Dec 9, 2025
Updated
May 23, 2026
Reserved
Dec 8, 2025

Read the record on cve.org

Description

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

l2tp: Avoid possible recursive deadlock in l2tp_tunnel_register()

When a file descriptor of pppol2tp socket is passed as file descriptor of UDP socket, a recursive deadlock occurs in l2tp_tunnel_register(). This situation is reproduced by the following program:

int main(void) { int sock; struct sockaddr_pppol2tp addr;

sock = socket(AF_PPPOX, SOCK_DGRAM, PX_PROTO_OL2TP); if (sock < 0) { perror("socket"); return 1; }

addr.sa_family = AF_PPPOX; addr.sa_protocol = PX_PROTO_OL2TP; addr.pppol2tp.pid = 0; addr.pppol2tp.fd = sock; addr.pppol2tp.addr.sin_family = PF_INET; addr.pppol2tp.addr.sin_port = htons(0); addr.pppol2tp.addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("192.168.0.1"); addr.pppol2tp.s_tunnel = 1; addr.pppol2tp.s_session = 0; addr.pppol2tp.d_tunnel = 0; addr.pppol2tp.d_session = 0;

if (connect(sock, (const struct sockaddr *)&addr, sizeof(addr)) < 0) { perror("connect"); return 1; }

return 0; }

This program causes the following lockdep warning:

============================================ WARNING: possible recursive locking detected 6.2.0-rc5-00205-gc96618275234 #56 Not tainted -------------------------------------------- repro/8607 is trying to acquire lock: ffff8880213c8130 (sk_lock-AF_PPPOX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: l2tp_tunnel_register+0x2b7/0x11c0

but task is already holding lock: ffff8880213c8130 (sk_lock-AF_PPPOX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: pppol2tp_connect+0xa82/0x1a30

other info that might help us debug this: Possible unsafe locking scenario:

CPU0 ---- lock(sk_lock-AF_PPPOX); lock(sk_lock-AF_PPPOX);

*** DEADLOCK ***

May be due to missing lock nesting notation

1 lock held by repro/8607: #0: ffff8880213c8130 (sk_lock-AF_PPPOX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: pppol2tp_connect+0xa82/0x1a30

stack backtrace: CPU: 0 PID: 8607 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.2.0-rc5-00205-gc96618275234 #56 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.1-2.fc37 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x100/0x178 __lock_acquire.cold+0x119/0x3b9 ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x410/0x410 lock_acquire+0x1e0/0x610 ? l2tp_tunnel_register+0x2b7/0x11c0 ? lock_downgrade+0x710/0x710 ? __fget_files+0x283/0x3e0 lock_sock_nested+0x3a/0xf0 ? l2tp_tunnel_register+0x2b7/0x11c0 l2tp_tunnel_register+0x2b7/0x11c0 ? sprintf+0xc4/0x100 ? l2tp_tunnel_del_work+0x6b0/0x6b0 ? debug_object_deactivate+0x320/0x320 ? lockdep_init_map_type+0x16d/0x7a0 ? lockdep_init_map_type+0x16d/0x7a0 ? l2tp_tunnel_create+0x2bf/0x4b0 ? l2tp_tunnel_create+0x3c6/0x4b0 pppol2tp_connect+0x14e1/0x1a30 ? pppol2tp_put_sk+0xd0/0xd0 ? aa_sk_perm+0x2b7/0xa80 ? aa_af_perm+0x260/0x260 ? bpf_lsm_socket_connect+0x9/0x10 ? pppol2tp_put_sk+0xd0/0xd0 __sys_connect_file+0x14f/0x190 __sys_connect+0x133/0x160 ? __sys_connect_file+0x190/0x190 ? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x7d/0x100 ? ktime_get_coarse_real_ts64+0x1b7/0x200 ? ktime_get_coarse_real_ts64+0x147/0x200 ? __audit_syscall_entry+0x396/0x500 __x64_sys_connect+0x72/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x38/0xb0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

This patch fixes the issue by getting/creating the tunnel before locking the pppol2tp socket.

Scores

The record has no CVSS score.

Weaknesses

The record names no weakness.

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • 2d77e5c0ad79004b5ef901895437e9cce6dfcc7e to before 4a413d360959962995e16a899cf2b9ef53e9fcb9Affected
  • 77e8ed776cdb1a24b2aab8fe7c6f1f154235e1ce to before f6df58aa15f7d469f69b1dd21b001ff483255244Affected
  • cef0845b6dcfa2f6c2c832e7f9622551456c741d to before 4bb736b40475528ac1aa8c98b368563618488a70Affected
  • 0b2c59720e65885a394a017d0cf9cab118914682 to before 5370647dd745bb3d8f37057006be207ddd8e9314Affected
  • 0b2c59720e65885a394a017d0cf9cab118914682 to before 9ca5e7ecab064f1f47da07f7c1ddf40e4bc0e5acAffected
  • 5.10.166 to before 5.10.173Affected
  • 5.15.91 to before 5.15.99Affected
  • 6.1.9 to before 6.1.16Affected
LinuxLinux
  • 6.2Affected
  • before 6.2Not affected
  • 5.10.173 through 5.10.*Not affected
  • 5.15.99 through 5.15.*Not affected
  • 6.1.16 through 6.1.*Not affected
  • 6.2.3 through 6.2.*Not affected
  • 6.3 and laterNot affected

References

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