# CVE-2023-54070: igb: clean up in all error paths when enabling SR-IOV

> Local privileged users can cause a system hang or crash by removing the igb kernel module when SR-IOV is enabled.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54070, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54070, GHSA-j844-9pmv-wmhv, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54070

## What is CVE-2023-54070?

CVE-2023-54070 is a denial of service 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:

igb: clean up in all error paths when enabling SR-IOV

After commit 50f303496d92 ("igb: Enable SR-IOV after reinit"), removing
the igb module could hang or crash (depending on the machine) when the
module has been loaded with the max_vfs parameter set to some value != 0.

In case of one test machine with a dual port 82580, this hang occurred:

[  232.480687] igb 0000:41:00.1: removed PHC on enp65s0f1
[  233.093257] igb 0000:41:00.1: IOV Disabled
[  233.329969] pcieport 0000:40:01.0: AER: Multiple Uncorrected (Non-Fatal) err0
[  233.340302] igb 0000:41:00.0: PCIe Bus Error: severity=Uncorrected (Non-Fata)
[  233.352248] igb 0000:41:00.0:   device [8086:1516] error status/mask=00100000
[  233.361088] igb 0000:41:00.0:    [20] UnsupReq               (First)
[  233.368183] igb 0000:41:00.0: AER:   TLP Header: 40000001 0000040f cdbfc00c c
[  233.376846] igb 0000:41:00.1: PCIe Bus Error: severity=Uncorrected (Non-Fata)
[  233.388779] igb 0000:41:00.1:   device [8086:1516] error status/mask=00100000
[  233.397629] igb 0000:41:00.1:    [20] UnsupReq               (First)
[  233.404736] igb 0000:41:00.1: AER:   TLP Header: 40000001 0000040f cdbfc00c c
[  233.538214] pci 0000:41:00.1: AER: can't recover (no error_detected callback)
[  233.538401] igb 0000:41:00.0: removed PHC on enp65s0f0
[  233.546197] pcieport 0000:40:01.0: AER: device recovery failed
[  234.157244] igb 0000:41:00.0: IOV Disabled
[  371.619705] INFO: task irq/35-aerdrv:257 blocked for more than 122 seconds.
[  371.627489]       Not tainted 6.4.0-dirty #2
[  371.632257] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this.
[  371.641000] task:irq/35-aerdrv   state:D stack:0     pid:257   ppid:2      f0
[  371.650330] Call Trace:
[  371.653061]  <TASK>
[  371.655407]  __schedule+0x20e/0x660
[  371.659313]  schedule+0x5a/0xd0
[  371.662824]  schedule_preempt_disabled+0x11/0x20
[  371.667983]  __mutex_lock.constprop.0+0x372/0x6c0
[  371.673237]  ? __pfx_aer_root_reset+0x10/0x10
[  371.678105]  report_error_detected+0x25/0x1c0
[  371.682974]  ? __pfx_report_normal_detected+0x10/0x10
[  371.688618]  pci_walk_bus+0x72/0x90
[  371.692519]  pcie_do_recovery+0xb2/0x330
[  371.696899]  aer_process_err_devices+0x117/0x170
[  371.702055]  aer_isr+0x1c0/0x1e0
[  371.705661]  ? __set_cpus_allowed_ptr+0x54/0xa0
[  371.710723]  ? __pfx_irq_thread_fn+0x10/0x10
[  371.715496]  irq_thread_fn+0x20/0x60
[  371.719491]  irq_thread+0xe6/0x1b0
[  371.723291]  ? __pfx_irq_thread_dtor+0x10/0x10
[  371.728255]  ? __pfx_irq_thread+0x10/0x10
[  371.732731]  kthread+0xe2/0x110
[  371.736243]  ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[  371.740430]  ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50
[  371.744428]  </TASK>

The reproducer was a simple script:

  #!/bin/sh
  for i in `seq 1 5`; do
    modprobe -rv igb
    modprobe -v igb max_vfs=1
    sleep 1
    modprobe -rv igb
  done

It turned out that this could only be reproduce on 82580 (quad and
dual-port), but not on 82576, i350 and i210.  Further debugging showed
that igb_enable_sriov()'s call to pci_enable_sriov() is failing, because
dev->is_physfn is 0 on 82580.

Prior to commit 50f303496d92 ("igb: Enable SR-IOV after reinit"),
igb_enable_sriov() jumped into the "err_out" cleanup branch.  After this
commit it only returned the error code.

So the cleanup didn't take place, and the incorrect VF setup in the
igb_adapter structure fooled the igb driver into assuming that VFs have
been set up where no VF actually existed.

Fix this problem by cleaning up again if pci_enable_sriov() fails.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54070?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54070?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54070 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54070 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54070 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54070 is a denial of service 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54070 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-2023-54070/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54070/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54070
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54070
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54070

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54070/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
