Linux Kernel up to 6.2.2 crypto use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.234/5.10.172/5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2. This affects an unknown part of the component crypto. This manipulation causes use after free. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-54046. There is no exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.234/5.10.172/5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code of the component crypto. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: essiv - Handle EBUSY correctly As it is essiv only handles the special return value of EINPROGERSS, which means that in all other cases it will free data related to the request. However, as the caller of essiv may specify MAY_BACKLOG, we also need to expect EBUSY and treat it in the same way. Otherwise backlogged requests will trigger a use-after-free.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-54046 since 12/24/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/30/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279947 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54046), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.235, 5.10.173, 5.15.99, 6.1.16 or 6.2.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch c61e7d182ee3f3f5ecf18a2964e303d49c539b52/796e02cca30a67322161f0745e5ce994bbe75605/840a1d3b77c1b062bd62b4733969a5b1efc274ce/a006aa3eedb8bfd6fe317c3cfe9c86ffe76b2385/69c67d451fc19d88e54f7d97e8e7c093e08357e1/b5a772adf45a32c68bef28e60621f12617161556 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (279947) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.4.234
• 5.10.172
• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.15.71
• 5.15.72
• 5.15.73
• 5.15.74
• 5.15.75
• 5.15.76
• 5.15.77
• 5.15.78
• 5.15.79
• 5.15.80
• 5.15.81
• 5.15.82
• 5.15.83
• 5.15.84
• 5.15.85
• 5.15.86
• 5.15.87
• 5.15.88
• 5.15.89
• 5.15.90
• 5.15.91
• 5.15.92
• 5.15.93
• 5.15.94
• 5.15.95
• 5.15.96
• 5.15.97
• 5.15.98
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

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Exploitinginfo

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Entryinfo

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