CVE-2023-54020 | dmaengine: sf-pdma: pdma_desc memory leak fix

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: [<00000000064a04f4>] kmemleak_alloc+0x1e/0x28 [<00000000018927a7>] kmem_cache_alloc+0x11e/0x178 [<000000002aea8d16>] sf_pdma_prep_dma_memcpy+0x40/0x112 Add the missing kfree() to sf_pdma_free_desc(), and remove the redundant in_use flag.

Published: 2025-12-24 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-54020 is rated Low Risk (6.1/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.16%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-54020

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.16% +0.15%
2 2025-12-24 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-54020

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-54020

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-54020

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-54020 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-54020
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-54020
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-54020/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-54020 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 173, not-affected 113, released 108, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-54020

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-54020

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.61, < 5.15.99 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.0, < 6.1.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.0, < 6.2.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.0, < 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.137 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.18.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.19.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-54020

cvelogic Threat Intelligence