# CVE-2023-54149: net: dsa: avoid suspicious RCU usage for synced VLAN-aware MAC addresses

> A race condition in the Linux kernel DSA driver causes suspicious RCU usage warnings and potential instability when configuring VLAN-aware bridges.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54149, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54149, GHSA-4vh9-h9jw-r347, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-54149, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54149

## What is CVE-2023-54149?

CVE-2023-54149 is a high-severity 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: dsa: avoid suspicious RCU usage for synced VLAN-aware MAC addresses

When using the felix driver (the only one which supports UC filtering
and MC filtering) as a DSA master for a random other DSA switch, one can
see the following stack trace when the downstream switch ports join a
VLAN-aware bridge:

=============================
WARNING: suspicious RCU usage
-----------------------------
net/8021q/vlan_core.c:238 suspicious rcu_dereference_protected() usage!

stack backtrace:
Workqueue: dsa_ordered dsa_slave_switchdev_event_work
Call trace:
 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x170/0x210
 vlan_for_each+0x8c/0x188
 dsa_slave_sync_uc+0x128/0x178
 __hw_addr_sync_dev+0x138/0x158
 dsa_slave_set_rx_mode+0x58/0x70
 __dev_set_rx_mode+0x88/0xa8
 dev_uc_add+0x74/0xa0
 dsa_port_bridge_host_fdb_add+0xec/0x180
 dsa_slave_switchdev_event_work+0x7c/0x1c8
 process_one_work+0x290/0x568

What it's saying is that vlan_for_each() expects rtnl_lock() context and
it's not getting it, when it's called from the DSA master's ndo_set_rx_mode().

The caller of that - dsa_slave_set_rx_mode() - is the slave DSA
interface's dsa_port_bridge_host_fdb_add() which comes from the deferred
dsa_slave_switchdev_event_work().

We went to great lengths to avoid the rtnl_lock() context in that call
path in commit 0faf890fc519 ("net: dsa: drop rtnl_lock from
dsa_slave_switchdev_event_work"), and calling rtnl_lock() is simply not
an option due to the possibility of deadlocking when calling
dsa_flush_workqueue() from the call paths that do hold rtnl_lock() -
basically all of them.

So, when the DSA master calls vlan_for_each() from its ndo_set_rx_mode(),
the state of the 8021q driver on this device is really not protected
from concurrent access by anything.

Looking at net/8021q/, I don't think that vlan_info->vid_list was
particularly designed with RCU traversal in mind, so introducing an RCU
read-side form of vlan_for_each() - vlan_for_each_rcu() - won't be so
easy, and it also wouldn't be exactly what we need anyway.

In general I believe that the solution isn't in net/8021q/ anyway;
vlan_for_each() is not cut out for this task. DSA doesn't need rtnl_lock()
to be held per se - since it's not a netdev state change that we're
blocking, but rather, just concurrent additions/removals to a VLAN list.
We don't even need sleepable context - the callback of vlan_for_each()
just schedules deferred work.

The proposed escape is to remove the dependency on vlan_for_each() and
to open-code a non-sleepable, rtnl-free alternative to that, based on
copies of the VLAN list modified from .ndo_vlan_rx_add_vid() and
.ndo_vlan_rx_kill_vid().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54149?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54149?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54149 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54149 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54149 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54149 is a high-severity 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-2023-54149 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-2023-54149/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54149/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54149
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54149
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54149

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54149/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.