CVE-2023-54040 ice: fix wrong fallback logic for FDIR
A logic error in the Intel ice network driver causes memory leaks and inconsistent states during filter failures, potentially leading to denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2023-54040?
CVE-2023-54040 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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:
ice: fix wrong fallback logic for FDIR
When adding a FDIR filter, if ice_vc_fdir_set_irq_ctx returns failure, the inserted fdir entry will not be removed and if ice_vc_fdir_write_fltr returns failure, the fdir context info for irq handler will not be cleared which may lead to inconsistent or memory leak issue. This patch refines failure cases to resolve this issue.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54040?
How do I fix CVE-2023-54040?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2023-54040 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54040 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54040, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54040, GHSA-jp7h-x2g7-335v, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54040.