Linux Kernel up to 6.1.42/6.4.7 xen memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.42/6.4.7. Impacted is an unknown function of the component xen. The manipulation leads to memory leak. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-54081. No exploit exists. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.42/6.4.7. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component xen. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xen: speed up grant-table reclaim When a grant entry is still in use by the remote domain, Linux must put it on a deferred list. Normally, this list is very short, because the PV network and block protocols expect the backend to unmap the grant first. However, Qubes OS's GUI protocol is subject to the constraints of the X Window System, and as such winds up with the frontend unmapping the window first. As a result, the list can grow very large, resulting in a massive memory leak and eventual VM freeze. To partially solve this problem, make the number of entries that the VM will attempt to free at each iteration tunable. The default is still 10, but it can be overridden via a module parameter. This is Cc: stable because (when combined with appropriate userspace changes) it fixes a severe performance and stability problem for Qubes OS users.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-54081 since 12/24/2025. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279797 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54081), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.43 or 6.4.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch cd1a8952ff529adc210e62306849fd6f256608c0/c76d96c555895ac602c1587b001e5cf656abc371/c04e9894846c663f3278a414f34416e6e45bbe68 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 (279797) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.1.28
• 6.1.29
• 6.1.30
• 6.1.31
• 6.1.32
• 6.1.33
• 6.1.34
• 6.1.35
• 6.1.36
• 6.1.37
• 6.1.38
• 6.1.39
• 6.1.40
• 6.1.41
• 6.1.42
• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6
• 6.4.7

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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