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VulnerabilityAwaiting classification

CVE-2023-54090

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ixgbe: Fix panic during XDP_TX with > 64 CPUs Commit 4fe815850bdc ("ixgbe: let the xdpdrv work with more than 64 cpus") adds support to allow XDP programs to run on systems with more than 64 CPUs by locking the XDP TX rings and indexing them using cpu % 64 (IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS). Upon trying this out patch on a system with more than 64 cores, the kernel paniced with an array-index-out-of-bounds at the return in ixgbe_determine_xdp_ring in ixgbe.h, which means ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx was just returning the cpu instead of cpu % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS. An example splat: ========================================================================== UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in /var/lib/dkms/ixgbe/5.18.6+focal-1/build/src/ixgbe.h:1147:26 index 65 is out of range for type 'ixgbe_ring *[64]' ========================================================================== BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000058 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 65 PID: 408 Comm: ksoftirqd/65 Tainted: G IOE 5.15.0-48-generic #54~20.04.1-Ubuntu Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R640/0W23H8, BIOS 2.5.4 01/13/2020 RIP: 0010:ixgbe_xmit_xdp_ring+0x1b/0x1c0 [ixgbe] Code: 3b 52 d4 cf e9 42 f2 ff ff 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 b9 00 00 00 00 48 89 e5 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 ec 08 <44> 0f b7 47 58 0f b7 47 5a 0f b7 57 54 44 0f b7 76 08 66 41 39 c0 RSP: 0018:ffffbc3fcd88fcb0 EFLAGS: 00010282 RAX: ffff92a253260980 RBX: ffffbc3fe68b00a0 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: ffff928b5f659000 RSI: ffff928b5f659000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffbc3fcd88fce0 R08: ffff92b9dfc20580 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: 3d3d3d3d3d3d3d3d R11: 3d3d3d3d3d3d3d3d R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffff928b2f0fa8c0 R14: ffff928b9be20050 R15: 000000000000003c FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff92b9dfc00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000058 CR3: 000000011dd6a002 CR4: 00000000007706e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ixgbe_poll+0x103e/0x1280 [ixgbe] ? sched_clock_cpu+0x12/0xe0 __napi_poll+0x30/0x160 net_rx_action+0x11c/0x270 __do_softirq+0xda/0x2ee run_ksoftirqd+0x2f/0x50 smpboot_thread_fn+0xb7/0x150 ? sort_range+0x30/0x30 kthread+0x127/0x150 ? set_kthread_struct+0x50/0x50 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 </TASK> I think this is how it happens: Upon loading the first XDP program on a system with more than 64 CPUs, ixgbe_xdp_locking_key is incremented in ixgbe_xdp_setup. However, immediately after this, the rings are reconfigured by ixgbe_setup_tc. ixgbe_setup_tc calls ixgbe_clear_interrupt_scheme which calls ixgbe_free_q_vectors which calls ixgbe_free_q_vector in a loop. ixgbe_free_q_vector decrements ixgbe_xdp_locking_key once per call if it is non-zero. Commenting out the decrement in ixgbe_free_q_vector stopped my system from panicing. I suspect to make the original patch work, I would need to load an XDP program and then replace it in order to get ixgbe_xdp_locking_key back above 0 since ixgbe_setup_tc is only called when transitioning between XDP and non-XDP ring configurations, while ixgbe_xdp_locking_key is incremented every time ixgbe_xdp_setup is called. Also, ixgbe_setup_tc can be called via ethtool --set-channels, so this becomes another path to decrement ixgbe_xdp_locking_key to 0 on systems with more than 64 CPUs. Since ixgbe_xdp_locking_key only protects the XDP_TX path and is tied to the number of CPUs present, there is no reason to disable it upon unloading an XDP program. To avoid confusion, I have moved enabling ixgbe_xdp_locking_key into ixgbe_sw_init, which is part of the probe path.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A bug in the ixgbe network driver for Linux kernel causes an array-index-out-of-bounds panic when using XDP (eXpress Data Path) on systems with more than 64 CPUs. The function ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx returns the raw CPU ID instead of CPU % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS (64), causing out-of-bounds array access at index 65+. Additionally, ixgbe_xdp_locking_key can be incorrectly decremented to 0 during ring reconfiguration, removing protection from the XDP_TX path.

MitigationApply the kernel patch that fixes ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx to use cpu % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS and moves ixgbe_xdp_locking_key initialization to ixgbe_sw_init in the probe path. Use kernel version with the fix or backport the specific commit.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if ixgbe driver is loaded
    Run 'lsmod | grep ixgbe' or 'ethtool -i <interface>' to identify active ixgbe network interfaces
    Affected if No ixgbe driver is loaded - the system is not affected
  2. Determine the number of CPUs
    Run 'nproc' or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep processor | wc -l' to count available CPUs
    Affected if System has 64 or fewer CPUs - the out-of-bounds condition cannot occur (array index modulo 64 equals the CPU ID)
  3. Check if XDP programs are loaded on ixgbe interfaces
    Run 'ip link show' and look for 'xdp' flags, or inspect /sys/class/net/<interface>/xdp/ for active XDP programs
    Affected if No XDP program is loaded on any ixgbe interface - the vulnerable code path is not triggered
  4. Verify driver and kernel versions
    Run 'modinfo ixgbe' to get driver version, and 'uname -r' for kernel version; compare against any known patched versions in your distribution's security advisories
    Affected if Driver version is older than the patch that moves ixgbe_xdp_locking_key initialization to ixgbe_sw_init, and system has >64 CPUs with XDP loaded

A system is affected if it uses the ixgbe driver, has more than 64 CPUs, and has an XDP program loaded on an ixgbe interface, leading to potential out-of-bounds array access during ring reconfiguration.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the kernel patch that fixes ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx to use cpu % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS and moves ixgbe_xdp_locking_key initialization to ixgbe_sw_init in the probe path. Use kernel version with the fix or backport the specific commit.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Linux kernel version containing the fix for CVE-2023-54090 (ixgbe: Fix panic during XDP_TX with > 64 CPUs). The fix changes ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx to return cpu % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS instead of the raw cpu value.

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix for the ixgbe driver. The bug is in ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx function in ixgbe.h, which was returning 'cpu' instead of 'cpu % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS', causing an array-index-out-of-bounds panic when using XDP_TX with more than 64 CPUs.
  2. After kernel upgrade, verify the fix is included by checking that ixgbe_determine_xdp_q_idx properly returns cpu % IXGBE_MAX_XDP_QS.
  3. Test XDP functionality on systems with more than 64 CPUs to confirm the panic no longer occurs.
Caveat None - this is a bugfix that restores correct functionality. Ensure ixgbe driver is loaded after upgrade.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,190
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-54090 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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