CVE-2023-54117

Published Dec 24, 2025 Modified Apr 15, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/dcssblk: fix kernel crash with list_add corruption Commit fb08a1908cb1 ("dax: simplify the dax_device <-> gendisk association") introduced new logic for gendisk association, requiring drivers to explicitly call dax_add_host() and dax_remove_host(). For dcssblk driver, some dax_remove_host() calls were missing, e.g. in device remove path. The commit also broke error handling for out_dax case in device add path, resulting in an extra put_device() w/o the previous get_device() in that case. This lead to stale xarray entries after device add / remove cycles. In the case when a previously used struct gendisk pointer (xarray index) would be used again, because blk_alloc_disk() happened to return such a pointer, the xa_insert() in dax_add_host() would fail and go to out_dax, doing the extra put_device() in the error path. In combination with an already flawed error handling in dcssblk (device_register() cleanup), which needs to be addressed in a separate patch, this resulted in a missing device_del() / klist_del(), and eventually in the kernel crash with list_add corruption on a subsequent device_add() / klist_add(). Fix this by adding the missing dax_remove_host() calls, and also move the put_device() in the error path to restore the previous logic.

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References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-54117? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/dcssblk: fix kernel crash with list_add corruption Commit fb08a1908cb1 ("dax: simplify the dax_device <-> gendisk association") introduced new logic for gendisk association, requiring drivers to explicitly call dax_add_host() and dax_remove_host(). For dcssblk driver, some dax_remove_host() calls were missing, e.g. in device remove path. The commit also broke error handling for out_dax case in device add path, resulting in an extra put_device() w/o the previous get_device() in that case. This lead to stale xarray entries after device add / remove cycles. In the case when a previously used struct gendisk pointer (xarray index) would be used again, because blk_alloc_disk() happened to return such a pointer, the xa_insert() in dax_add_host() would fail and go to out_dax, doing the extra put_device() in the error path. In combination with an already flawed error handling in dcssblk (device_register() cleanup), which needs to be addressed in a separate patch, this resulted in a missing device_del() / klist_del(), and eventually in the kernel crash with list_add corruption on a subsequent device_add() / klist_add(). Fix this by adding the missing dax_remove_host() calls, and also move the put_device() in the error path to restore the previous logic.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2023-54117? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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