# CVE-2023-54156: sfc: fix crash when reading stats while NIC is resetting

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by reading network statistics while the NIC is resetting, leading to a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54156, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54156, GHSA-6qcc-hqxv-5rww, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54156

## What is CVE-2023-54156?

CVE-2023-54156 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:

sfc: fix crash when reading stats while NIC is resetting

efx_net_stats() (.ndo_get_stats64) can be called during an ethtool
 selftest, during which time nic_data->mc_stats is NULL as the NIC has
 been fini'd.  In this case do not attempt to fetch the latest stats
 from the hardware, else we will crash on a NULL dereference:
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000038
    RIP efx_nic_update_stats
    abridged calltrace:
    efx_ef10_update_stats_pf
    efx_net_stats
    dev_get_stats
    dev_seq_printf_stats
Skipping the read is safe, we will simply give out stale stats.
To ensure that the free in efx_ef10_fini_nic() does not race against
 efx_ef10_update_stats_pf(), which could cause a TOCTTOU bug, take the
 efx->stats_lock in fini_nic (it is already held across update_stats).

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54156?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54156?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54156 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54156 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54156 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54156 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-2023-54156 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-2023-54156/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54156/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54156
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54156
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54156

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54156/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.