CVE-2023-54181 Affecting kernel-source package, versions <6.4.0-150600.23.84.1


Severity

Recommended
0.0
medium
0
10

Based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.03% (8th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-SLES156-KERNELSOURCE-15107970
  • published27 Jan 2026
  • disclosed26 Jan 2026

Introduced: 26 Jan 2026

CVE-2023-54181  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade SLES:15.6 kernel-source to version 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-source package and not the kernel-source package as distributed by SLES. See How to fix? for SLES:15.6 relevant fixed versions and status.

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

bpf: Fix issue in verifying allow_ptr_leaks

After we converted the capabilities of our networking-bpf program from cap_sys_admin to cap_net_admin+cap_bpf, our networking-bpf program failed to start. Because it failed the bpf verifier, and the error log is "R3 pointer comparison prohibited".

A simple reproducer as follows,

SEC("cls-ingress") int ingress(struct __sk_buff *skb) { struct iphdr *iph = (void *)(long)skb->data + sizeof(struct ethhdr);

if ((long)(iph + 1) &gt; (long)skb-&gt;data_end)
    return TC_ACT_STOLEN;
return TC_ACT_OK;

}

Per discussion with Yonghong and Alexei [1], comparison of two packet pointers is not a pointer leak. This patch fixes it.

Our local kernel is 6.1.y and we expect this fix to be backported to 6.1.y, so stable is CCed.

[1]. https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/CAADnVQ+Nmspr7Si+pxWn8zkE7hX-7s93ugwC+94aXSy4uQ9vBg@mail.gmail.com/

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1