Linux Kernel up to 6.1.44/6.4.7 net ipa_filter_reset_table reference count

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.44/6.4.7. It has been rated as critical. The affected element is the function ipa_filter_reset_table of the component net. This manipulation causes reference count. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2023-54225. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.44/6.4.7. Affected by this vulnerability is the function ipa_filter_reset_table of the component net. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a reference count vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-911. The product uses a reference count to manage a resource, but it does not update or incorrectly updates the reference count. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ipa: only reset hashed tables when supported Last year, the code that manages GSI channel transactions switched from using spinlock-protected linked lists to using indexes into the ring buffer used for a channel. Recently, Google reported seeing transaction reference count underflows occasionally during shutdown. Doug Anderson found a way to reproduce the issue reliably, and bisected the issue to the commit that eliminated the linked lists and the lock. The root cause was ultimately determined to be related to unused transactions being committed as part of the modem shutdown cleanup activity. Unused transactions are not normally expected (except in error cases). The modem uses some ranges of IPA-resident memory, and whenever it shuts down we zero those ranges. In ipa_filter_reset_table() a transaction is allocated to zero modem filter table entries. If hashing is not supported, hashed table memory should not be zeroed. But currently nothing prevents that, and the result is an unused transaction. Something similar occurs when we zero routing table entries for the modem. By preventing any attempt to clear hashed tables when hashing is not supported, the reference count underflow is avoided in this case. Note that there likely remains an issue with properly freeing unused transactions (if they occur due to errors). This patch addresses only the underflows that Google originally reported.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-54225 since 12/30/2025. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281703 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54225), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.45 or 6.4.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 50c24f0c940728792c8bdf65c1eaf6b91b3b0dcd/c00af3a818cc573e10100cc6770f0e47befa1fa4/e11ec2b868af2b351c6c1e2e50eb711cc5423a10 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 (281703) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2941). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• IBM Power Hardware Management Console
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• IBM DataPower Gateway

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

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

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

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