CVE-2023-54273 xfrm: Fix leak of dev tracker
A reference counting error in the Linux kernel xfrm subsystem can lead to a memory leak, potentially causing denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-54273?
CVE-2023-54273 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 Dec 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
xfrm: Fix leak of dev tracker
At the stage of direction checks, the netdev reference tracker is already initialized, but released with wrong *_put() call.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54273?
How do I fix CVE-2023-54273?
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-2023-54273 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54273 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54273, GHSA-c9xp-xhgq-2rj5, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54273.