CVE-2023-54292: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2023-54292 is a data race vulnerability in the Linux kernel's RDMA/irdma driver that affects the cqp_request->request_done memory location. The flaw occurs because irdma_handle_cqp_op reads this field locklessly while irdma_cqp_ce_handler writes to it concurrently without proper synchronization annotations. It was published on December 30, 2025, and affects the Linux kernel's irdma module. The CVSS score has not been publicly assigned at this time; the CVE status is listed as Unknown (Feedly).

The root cause is a concurrent read/write data race (CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization) on the cqp_request->request_done boolean field within the Linux kernel's irdma (Intel RDMA) driver. The write occurs in irdma_cqp_ce_handler (via cqp_compl_worker work queue) while the read occurs in irdma_wait_event, called from irdma_handle_cqp_op, on a different CPU without any locking. KCSAN (Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer) detected the race, flagging a 1-byte write at 0xffff8e44107019dc on CPU 5 and a concurrent read on CPU 1. The fix annotates these accesses with READ_ONCE/WRITE_ONCE macros to prevent compiler optimizations such as load fusing and to satisfy KCSAN (Feedly).

The data race can lead to undefined behavior in the kernel's RDMA CQP (Control Queue Pair) request handling path, potentially causing incorrect completion status reads, kernel instability, or system crashes (denial of service). In worst-case scenarios, race conditions of this type in kernel drivers can result in memory corruption or use-after-free conditions, though the primary observed impact here is incorrect synchronization leading to potential hangs or crashes during RDMA device teardown (Feedly).

The fix has been applied to the Linux kernel stable trees via multiple commits (e.g., 5986e96be7d0, b8b90ba636e3, c5b5dbcbf91f, f0842bb3d388) that annotate the racy accesses with READ_ONCE/WRITE_ONCE. Users should update to a patched kernel version that includes these commits. As a workaround, systems that do not require RDMA/irdma functionality can unload or blacklist the irdma kernel module to eliminate exposure (Feedly).