# CVE-2023-54274: RDMA/srpt: Add a check for valid 'mad_agent' pointer

> A race condition in the Linux kernel RDMA subsystem causes a null pointer dereference, leading to a system crash when unregistering MAD agents.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54274, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54274, GHSA-jwmj-482q-j9c2, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54274

## What is CVE-2023-54274?

CVE-2023-54274 is a 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/srpt: Add a check for valid 'mad_agent' pointer

When unregistering MAD agent, srpt module has a non-null check
for 'mad_agent' pointer before invoking ib_unregister_mad_agent().
This check can pass if 'mad_agent' variable holds an error value.
The 'mad_agent' can have an error value for a short window when
srpt_add_one() and srpt_remove_one() is executed simultaneously.

In srpt module, added a valid pointer check for 'sport->mad_agent'
before unregistering MAD agent.

This issue can hit when RoCE driver unregisters ib_device

Stack Trace:
------------
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000004d
PGD 145003067 P4D 145003067 PUD 2324fe067 PMD 0
Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 10 PID: 4459 Comm: kworker/u80:0 Kdump: loaded Tainted: P
Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R640/06NR82, BIOS 2.5.4 01/13/2020
Workqueue: bnxt_re bnxt_re_task [bnxt_re]
RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x19/0x40
Call Trace:
  ib_unregister_mad_agent+0x46/0x2f0 [ib_core]
  IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): bond0: link becomes ready
  ? __schedule+0x20b/0x560
  srpt_unregister_mad_agent+0x93/0xd0 [ib_srpt]
  srpt_remove_one+0x20/0x150 [ib_srpt]
  remove_client_context+0x88/0xd0 [ib_core]
  bond0: (slave p2p1): link status definitely up, 100000 Mbps full duplex
  disable_device+0x8a/0x160 [ib_core]
  bond0: active interface up!
  ? kernfs_name_hash+0x12/0x80
 (NULL device *): Bonding Info Received: rdev: 000000006c0b8247
  __ib_unregister_device+0x42/0xb0 [ib_core]
 (NULL device *):         Master: mode: 4 num_slaves:2
  ib_unregister_device+0x22/0x30 [ib_core]
 (NULL device *):         Slave: id: 105069936 name:p2p1 link:0 state:0
  bnxt_re_stopqps_and_ib_uninit+0x83/0x90 [bnxt_re]
  bnxt_re_alloc_lag+0x12e/0x4e0 [bnxt_re]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54274?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54274?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54274 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54274 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54274 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54274 is a 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-2023-54274 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-2023-54274/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54274/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54274
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54274
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54274

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54274/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.