CVE-2023-52767: tls: fix NULL deref on tls_sw_splice_eof() with empty record

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-05-21 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tls: fix NULL deref on tls_sw_splice_eof() with empty record syzkaller discovered that if tls_sw_splice_eof() is executed as part of sendfile() when the plaintext/ciphertext sk_msg are empty, the send path gets confused because the empty ciphertext buffer does not have enough space for the encryption overhead. This causes tls_push_record() to go on the `split = true` path (which is only supposed to be used when interacting with an attached BPF program), and then get further confused and hit the tls_merge_open_record() path, which then assumes that there must be at least one populated buffer element, leading to a NULL deref. It is possible to have empty plaintext/ciphertext buffers if we previously bailed from tls_sw_sendmsg_locked() via the tls_trim_both_msgs() path. tls_sw_push_pending_record() already handles this case correctly; let's do the same check in tls_sw_splice_eof().

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.5 before 6.6.4; 6.7-rc1, 6.7-rc2 — fixed in 6.6.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.6.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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