# CVE-2023-53850: iavf: use internal state to free traffic IRQs

> A race condition in the iavf driver causes IRQ leaks when closing the network device during reset, potentially leading to resource exhaustion and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53850, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53850, GHSA-hcp8-qjrp-6pgh, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53850, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53850, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53850

## What is CVE-2023-53850?

CVE-2023-53850 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 Dec 2025. 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:

iavf: use internal state to free traffic IRQs

If the system tries to close the netdev while iavf_reset_task() is
running, __LINK_STATE_START will be cleared and netif_running() will
return false in iavf_reinit_interrupt_scheme(). This will result in
iavf_free_traffic_irqs() not being called and a leak as follows:

    [7632.489326] remove_proc_entry: removing non-empty directory 'irq/999', leaking at least 'iavf-enp24s0f0v0-TxRx-0'
    [7632.490214] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 10 at fs/proc/generic.c:718 remove_proc_entry+0x19b/0x1b0

is shown when pci_disable_msix() is later called. Fix by using the
internal adapter state. The traffic IRQs will always exist if
state == __IAVF_RUNNING.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53850?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-53850?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53850 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53850 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53850 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53850 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 Dec 2025. 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-2023-53850 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-53850/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53850/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53850
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53850
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53850

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53850/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.