# CVE-2023-54148: net/mlx5e: Move representor neigh cleanup to profile cleanup_tx > A use-after-free in the mlx5e driver allows local attackers with high privileges to cause a system crash or potentially execute code during network interface unloading. - **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:** 23 May 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54148, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54148, GHSA-hr7g-x38j-56v5, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54148 ## What is CVE-2023-54148? CVE-2023-54148 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: net/mlx5e: Move representor neigh cleanup to profile cleanup_tx For IP tunnel encapsulation in ECMP (Equal-Cost Multipath) mode, as the flow is duplicated to the peer eswitch, the related neighbour information on the peer uplink representor is created as well. In the cited commit, eswitch devcom unpair is moved to uplink unload API, specifically the profile->cleanup_tx. If there is a encap rule offloaded in ECMP mode, when one eswitch does unpair (because of unloading the driver, for instance), and the peer rule from the peer eswitch is going to be deleted, the use-after-free error is triggered while accessing neigh info, as it is already cleaned up in uplink's profile->disable, which is before its profile->cleanup_tx. To fix this issue, move the neigh cleanup to profile's cleanup_tx callback, and after mlx5e_cleanup_uplink_rep_tx is called. The neigh init is moved to init_tx for symmeter. [ 2453.376299] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.379125] Read of size 4 at addr ffff888127af9008 by task modprobe/2496 [ 2453.381542] CPU: 7 PID: 2496 Comm: modprobe Tainted: G B 6.4.0-rc7+ #15 [ 2453.383386] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 2453.384335] Call Trace: [ 2453.384625] [ 2453.384891] dump_stack_lvl+0x33/0x50 [ 2453.385285] print_report+0xc2/0x610 [ 2453.385667] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xb1/0x130 [ 2453.386091] ? mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.386757] kasan_report+0xae/0xe0 [ 2453.387123] ? mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.387798] mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x109/0x3a0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.388465] mlx5e_rep_encap_entry_detach+0xa6/0xe0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.389111] mlx5e_encap_dealloc+0xa7/0x100 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.389706] mlx5e_tc_tun_encap_dests_unset+0x61/0xb0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.390361] mlx5_free_flow_attr_actions+0x11e/0x340 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.391015] ? complete_all+0x43/0xd0 [ 2453.391398] ? free_flow_post_acts+0x38/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.392004] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_flow+0x4ae/0x690 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.392618] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peers_flow+0x308/0x370 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.393276] mlx5e_tc_clean_fdb_peer_flows+0xf5/0x140 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.393925] mlx5_esw_offloads_unpair+0x86/0x540 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.394546] ? mlx5_esw_offloads_set_ns_peer.isra.0+0x180/0x180 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.395268] ? down_write+0xaa/0x100 [ 2453.395652] mlx5_esw_offloads_devcom_event+0x203/0x530 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.396317] mlx5_devcom_send_event+0xbb/0x190 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.396917] mlx5_esw_offloads_devcom_cleanup+0xb0/0xd0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.397582] mlx5e_tc_esw_cleanup+0x42/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.398182] mlx5e_rep_tc_cleanup+0x15/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.398768] mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx+0x6c/0x80 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.399367] mlx5e_detach_netdev+0xee/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.399957] mlx5e_netdev_change_profile+0x84/0x170 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.400598] mlx5e_vport_rep_unload+0xe0/0xf0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.403781] mlx5_eswitch_unregister_vport_reps+0x15e/0x190 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.404479] ? mlx5_eswitch_register_vport_reps+0x200/0x200 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.405170] ? up_write+0x39/0x60 [ 2453.405529] ? kernfs_remove_by_name_ns+0xb7/0xe0 [ 2453.405985] auxiliary_bus_remove+0x2e/0x40 [ 2453.406405] device_release_driver_internal+0x243/0x2d0 [ 2453.406900] ? kobject_put+0x42/0x2d0 [ 2453.407284] bus_remove_device+0x128/0x1d0 [ 2453.407687] device_del+0x240/0x550 [ 2453.408053] ? waiting_for_supplier_show+0xe0/0xe0 [ 2453.408511] ? kobject_put+0xfa/0x2d0 [ 2453.408889] ? __kmem_cache_free+0x14d/0x280 [ 2453.409310] mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked.part.0+0xcd/0x2b0 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.409973] mlx5_unregister_device+0x40/0x50 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.410561] mlx5_uninit_one+0x3d/0x110 [mlx5_core] [ 2453.411111] remove_one+0x89/0x130 [mlx5_core] [ 24 ---truncated--- ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54148? ## How do I fix CVE-2023-54148? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-54148 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54148 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54148 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-54148 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. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54148 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-2023-54148/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54148/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54148 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54148 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54148 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54148/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.