# CVE-2023-52559: iommu/vt-d: Avoid memory allocation in iommu_suspend()

> A local attacker can trigger intermittent suspend or hibernation failures in the Linux kernel by exploiting improper memory allocation handling in the IOMMU suspend callback.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52559, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52559, GHSA-94pf-4p5q-jc3r, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52559

## What is CVE-2023-52559?

CVE-2023-52559 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

iommu/vt-d: Avoid memory allocation in iommu_suspend()

The iommu_suspend() syscore suspend callback is invoked with IRQ disabled.
Allocating memory with the GFP_KERNEL flag may re-enable IRQs during
the suspend callback, which can cause intermittent suspend/hibernation
problems with the following kernel traces:

Calling iommu_suspend+0x0/0x1d0
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 15 at kernel/time/timekeeping.c:868 ktime_get+0x9b/0xb0
...
CPU: 0 PID: 15 Comm: rcu_preempt Tainted: G     U      E      6.3-intel #r1
RIP: 0010:ktime_get+0x9b/0xb0
...
Call Trace:
 <IRQ>
 tick_sched_timer+0x22/0x90
 ? __pfx_tick_sched_timer+0x10/0x10
 __hrtimer_run_queues+0x111/0x2b0
 hrtimer_interrupt+0xfa/0x230
 __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x63/0x140
 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x7b/0xa0
 </IRQ>
 <TASK>
 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1f/0x30
...
------------[ cut here ]------------
Interrupts enabled after iommu_suspend+0x0/0x1d0
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 27420 at drivers/base/syscore.c:68 syscore_suspend+0x147/0x270
CPU: 0 PID: 27420 Comm: rtcwake Tainted: G     U  W   E      6.3-intel #r1
RIP: 0010:syscore_suspend+0x147/0x270
...
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 hibernation_snapshot+0x25b/0x670
 hibernate+0xcd/0x390
 state_store+0xcf/0xe0
 kobj_attr_store+0x13/0x30
 sysfs_kf_write+0x3f/0x50
 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x128/0x200
 vfs_write+0x1fd/0x3c0
 ksys_write+0x6f/0xf0
 __x64_sys_write+0x1d/0x30
 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

Given that only 4 words memory is needed, avoid the memory allocation in
iommu_suspend().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52559?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52559?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52559 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52559 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52559 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52559 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52559 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52559/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52559/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52559
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52559
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52559

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52559/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.