# CVE-2023-54201: RDMA/efa: Fix wrong resources deallocation order

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel RDMA EFA driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service via refcount underflow.

- **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:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54201, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54201, GHSA-25gx-7w99-7j35, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-54201, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-54201, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54201

## What is CVE-2023-54201?

CVE-2023-54201 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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:

RDMA/efa: Fix wrong resources deallocation order

When trying to destroy QP or CQ, we first decrease the refcount and
potentially free memory regions allocated for the object and then
request the device to destroy the object. If the device fails, the
object isn't fully destroyed so the user/IB core can try to destroy the
object again which will lead to underflow when trying to decrease an
already zeroed refcount.

Deallocate resources in reverse order of allocating them to safely free
them.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54201?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54201?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54201 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54201 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54201 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54201 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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-2023-54201 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-2023-54201/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54201/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54201
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54201
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54201

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54201/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.