# CVE-2023-54071: wifi: rtw88: use work to update rate to avoid RCU warning

> A bug in the rtw88 WiFi driver causes a kernel warning and potential instability during rate updates, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54071, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54071, GHSA-66p3-rgg9-52hr, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-54071, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54071

## What is CVE-2023-54071?

CVE-2023-54071 is a high-severity 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:

wifi: rtw88: use work to update rate to avoid RCU warning

The ieee80211_ops::sta_rc_update must be atomic, because
ieee80211_chan_bw_change() holds rcu_read lock while calling
drv_sta_rc_update(), so create a work to do original things.

 Voluntary context switch within RCU read-side critical section!
 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 4621 at kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h:318
 rcu_note_context_switch+0x571/0x5d0
 CPU: 0 PID: 4621 Comm: kworker/u16:2 Tainted: G        W  OE
 Workqueue: phy3 ieee80211_chswitch_work [mac80211]
 RIP: 0010:rcu_note_context_switch+0x571/0x5d0
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  __schedule+0xb0/0x1460
  ? __mod_timer+0x116/0x360
  schedule+0x5a/0xc0
  schedule_timeout+0x87/0x150
  ? trace_raw_output_tick_stop+0x60/0x60
  wait_for_completion_timeout+0x7b/0x140
  usb_start_wait_urb+0x82/0x160 [usbcore
  usb_control_msg+0xe3/0x140 [usbcore
  rtw_usb_read+0x88/0xe0 [rtw_usb
  rtw_usb_read8+0xf/0x10 [rtw_usb
  rtw_fw_send_h2c_command+0xa0/0x170 [rtw_core
  rtw_fw_send_ra_info+0xc9/0xf0 [rtw_core
  drv_sta_rc_update+0x7c/0x160 [mac80211
  ieee80211_chan_bw_change+0xfb/0x110 [mac80211
  ieee80211_change_chanctx+0x38/0x130 [mac80211
  ieee80211_vif_use_reserved_switch+0x34e/0x900 [mac80211
  ieee80211_link_use_reserved_context+0x88/0xe0 [mac80211
  ieee80211_chswitch_work+0x95/0x170 [mac80211
  process_one_work+0x201/0x410
  worker_thread+0x4a/0x3b0
  ? process_one_work+0x410/0x410
  kthread+0xe1/0x110
  ? kthread_complete_and_exit+0x20/0x20
  ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30
  </TASK>

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54071?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54071?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54071 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54071 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54071 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54071 is a high-severity 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-2023-54071 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-2023-54071/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54071/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54071
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54071
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54071

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54071/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.