CVE-2023-54020
- Published: 2025-12-24T11:15:55.003
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
dmaengine: sf-pdma: pdma_desc memory leak fix
Commit b2cc5c465c2c (“dmaengine: sf-pdma: Add multithread support for a
DMA channel”) changed sf_pdma_prep_dma_memcpy() to unconditionally
allocate a new sf_pdma_desc each time it is called.
The driver previously recycled descs, by checking the in_use flag, only
allocating additional descs if the existing one was in use. This logic
was removed in commit b2cc5c465c2c (“dmaengine: sf-pdma: Add multithread
support for a DMA channel”), but sf_pdma_free_desc() was not changed to
handle the new behaviour.
As a result, each time sf_pdma_prep_dma_memcpy() is called, the previous
descriptor is leaked, over time leading to memory starvation:
unreferenced object 0xffffffe008447300 (size 192):
comm “irq/39-mchp_dsc”, pid 343, jiffies 4294906910 (age 981.200s)
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
00 00 00 ff 00 00 00 00 b8 c1 00 00 00 00 00 00 …………….
00 00 70 08 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 00 00 00 00 ..p………….
backtrace:
[] kmemleak_alloc+0x1e/0x28
[] kmem_cache_alloc+0x11e/0x178
[] sf_pdma_prep_dma_memcpy+0x40/0x112
Add the missing kfree() to sf_pdma_free_desc(), and remove the redundant
in_use flag.
Related CVE by CWE
No related CWE found.
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How to fix CVE-2023-54020
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: sf-pdma: pdma_desc memory leak fix Commit b2cc5c465c2c (“dmaengine: sf-pdma: Add multithread support for a DMA channel”) changed sf_pdma_prep_dma_memcpy() to unconditionally allocate a new sf_pdma_desc each time it is called. The driver previously recycled descs, by checking the in_use flag, only allocating additional descs if […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
Vulnerability Timeline
CVE details first published to NVD database
Added to this CVE tracking system
Detection Rules & IOCs
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No vendor/product data available.