Linux Kernel up to 6.1.44/6.4.9 mlx5e cleanup_tx use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.44/6.4.9. Affected by this vulnerability is the function cleanup_tx of the component mlx5e. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2023-54148. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.44/6.4.9. This affects the function cleanup_tx of the component mlx5e. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Move representor neigh cleanup to profile cleanup_tx For IP tunnel encapsulation in ECMP (Equal-Cost Multipath) mode, as the flow is duplicated to the peer eswitch, the related neighbour information on the peer uplink representor is created as well. In the cited commit, eswitch devcom unpair is moved to uplink unload API, specifically the profile->cleanup_tx. If there is a encap rule offloaded in ECMP mode, when one eswitch does unpair (because of unloading the driver, for instance), and the peer rule from the peer eswitch is going to be deleted, the use-after-free error is triggered while accessing neigh info, as it is already cleaned up in uplink's profile->disable, which is before its profile->cleanup_tx. To fix this issue, move the neigh cleanup to profile's cleanup_tx callback, and after mlx5e_cleanup_uplink_rep_tx is called. The neigh init is moved to init_tx for symmeter. [ 2453.376299] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.379125] Read of size 4 at addr ffff888127af9008 by task modprobe/2496 [ 2453.381542] CPU: 7 PID: 2496 Comm: modprobe Tainted: G B 6.4.0-rc7+ #15 [ 2453.383386] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 2453.384335] Call Trace: [ 2453.384625] <TASK> [ 2453.384891] dump_stack_lvl+0x33/0x50 [ 2453.385285] print_report+0xc2/0x610 [ 2453.385667] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xb1/0x130 [ 2453.386091] ? mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.386757] kasan_report+0xae/0xe0 [ 2453.387123] ? mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.387798] mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.388465] mlx5e_rep_encap_entry_detach+0xa6/0xe0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.389111] mlx5e_encap_dealloc+0xa7/0x100 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.389706] mlx5e_tc_tun_encap_dests_unset+0x61/0xb0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.390361] mlx5_free_flow_attr_actions+0x11e/0x340 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.391015] ? complete_all+0x43/0xd0 [ 2453.391398] ? free_flow_post_acts+0x38/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.392004] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_flow+0x4ae/0x690 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.392618] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peers_flow+0x308/0x370 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.393276] mlx5e_tc_clean_fdb_peer_flows+0xf5/0x140 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.393925] mlx5_esw_offloads_unpair+0x86/0x540 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.394546] ? mlx5_esw_offloads_set_ns_peer.isra.0+0x180/0x180 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.395268] ? down_write+0xaa/0x100 [ 2453.395652] mlx5_esw_offloads_devcom_event+0x203/0x530 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.396317] mlx5_devcom_send_event+0xbb/0x190 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.396917] mlx5_esw_offloads_devcom_cleanup+0xb0/0xd0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.397582] mlx5e_tc_esw_cleanup+0x42/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.398182] mlx5e_rep_tc_cleanup+0x15/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.398768] mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx+0x6c/0x80 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.399367] mlx5e_detach_netdev+0xee/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.399957] mlx5e_netdev_change_profile+0x84/0x170 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.400598] mlx5e_vport_rep_unload+0xe0/0xf0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.403781] mlx5_eswitch_unregister_vport_reps+0x15e/0x190 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.404479] ? mlx5_eswitch_register_vport_reps+0x200/0x200 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.405170] ? up_write+0x39/0x60 [ 2453.405529] ? kernfs_remove_by_name_ns+0xb7/0xe0 [ 2453.405985] auxiliary_bus_remove+0x2e/0x40 [ 2453.406405] device_release_driver_internal+0x243/0x2d0 [ 2453.406900] ? kobject_put+0x42/0x2d0 [ 2453.407284] bus_remove_device+0x128/0x1d0 [ 2453.407687] device_del+0x240/0x550 [ 2453.408053] ? waiting_for_supplier_show+0xe0/0xe0 [ 2453.408511] ? kobject_put+0xfa/0x2d0 [ 2453.408889] ? __kmem_cache_free+0x14d/0x280 [ 2453.409310] mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked.part.0+0xcd/0x2b0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.409973] mlx5_unregister_device+0x40/0x50 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.410561] mlx5_uninit_one+0x3d/0x110 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.411111] remove_one+0x89/0x130 [mlx5_core] [ 24 ---truncated---

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-54148 since 12/24/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/03/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279871 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54148), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.45 or 6.4.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d628ba98eb1637acce44001e04c718d8dbb1f7ce/36697c592cd0809e626df01b3644c23ac522a4d0/d03b6e6f31820b84f7449cca022047f36c42bc3f 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 (279871) 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

• 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
• 6.1.43
• 6.1.44
• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6
• 6.4.7
• 6.4.8
• 6.4.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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