# CVE-2023-52792: cxl/region: Do not try to cleanup after cxl_region_setup_targets() fails

> A logic error in the Linux kernel CXL region driver prevents resource cleanup on failure, causing denial of service by blocking future region creation.

- **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:** 21 May 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52792, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52792, GHSA-8v7x-4vvg-pgr3, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52792

## What is CVE-2023-52792?

CVE-2023-52792 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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:

cxl/region: Do not try to cleanup after cxl_region_setup_targets() fails

Commit 5e42bcbc3fef ("cxl/region: decrement ->nr_targets on error in
cxl_region_attach()") tried to avoid 'eiw' initialization errors when
->nr_targets exceeded 16, by just decrementing ->nr_targets when
cxl_region_setup_targets() failed.

Commit 86987c766276 ("cxl/region: Cleanup target list on attach error")
extended that cleanup to also clear cxled->pos and p->targets[pos]. The
initialization error was incidentally fixed separately by:
Commit 8d4285425714 ("cxl/region: Fix port setup uninitialized variable
warnings") which was merged a few days after 5e42bcbc3fef.

But now the original cleanup when cxl_region_setup_targets() fails
prevents endpoint and switch decoder resources from being reused:

1) the cleanup does not set the decoder's region to NULL, which results
   in future dpa_size_store() calls returning -EBUSY
2) the decoder is not properly freed, which results in future commit
   errors associated with the upstream switch

Now that the initialization errors were fixed separately, the proper
cleanup for this case is to just return immediately. Then the resources
associated with this target get cleanup up as normal when the failed
region is deleted.

The ->nr_targets decrement in the error case also helped prevent
a p->targets[] array overflow, so add a new check to prevent against
that overflow.

Tested by trying to create an invalid region for a 2 switch * 2 endpoint
topology, and then following up with creating a valid region.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52792?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52792?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52792 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52792 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-2023-52792 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52792 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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-2023-52792 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-2023-52792/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52792/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52792
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52792
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52792

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52792/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.