CVE-2023-54146 x86/kexec: Fix double-free of elf header buffer
A double-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's kexec subsystem allows local attackers to cause denial of service or potentially escalate privileges.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-54146?
CVE-2023-54146 is an use after free 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:
x86/kexec: Fix double-free of elf header buffer
After
b3e34a47f989 ("x86/kexec: fix memory leak of elf header buffer"),
freeing image->elf_headers in the error path of crash_load_segments() is not needed because kimage_file_post_load_cleanup() will take care of that later. And not clearing it could result in a double-free.
Drop the superfluous vfree() call at the error path of crash_load_segments().
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54146?
How do I fix CVE-2023-54146?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2023-54146 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54146 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54146, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54146, GHSA-wg2w-8j36-3rqh, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54146.