CVE-2023-54154 scsi: target: core: Fix target_cmd_counter leak
A memory leak in the Linux kernel SCSI target core allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, causing denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-54154?
CVE-2023-54154 is a memory corruption 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:
scsi: target: core: Fix target_cmd_counter leak
The target_cmd_counter struct allocated via target_alloc_cmd_counter() is never freed, resulting in leaks across various transport types, e.g.:
unreferenced object 0xffff88801f920120 (size 96): comm "sh", pid 102, jiffies 4294892535 (age 713.412s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 07 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 38 01 92 1f 80 88 ff ff ........8....... backtrace: [<00000000e58a6252>] kmalloc_trace+0x11/0x20 [<0000000043af4b2f>] target_alloc_cmd_counter+0x17/0x90 [target_core_mod] [<000000007da2dfa7>] target_setup_session+0x2d/0x140 [target_core_mod] [<0000000068feef86>] tcm_loop_tpg_nexus_store+0x19b/0x350 [tcm_loop] [<000000006a80e021>] configfs_write_iter+0xb1/0x120 [<00000000e9f4d860>] vfs_write+0x2e4/0x3c0 [<000000008143433b>] ksys_write+0x80/0xb0 [<00000000a7df29b2>] do_syscall_64+0x42/0x90 [<0000000053f45fb8>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8
Free the structure alongside the corresponding iscsit_conn / se_sess parent.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54154?
How do I fix CVE-2023-54154?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2023-54154 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54154 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54154, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54154, GHSA-35f8-m7gp-7vmp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54154.