CVE-2023-54227

A memory leak flaw was found in the Linux kernel's block multi-queue (blk-mq) subsystem. When the number of hardware queues is reduced via the submit_queues parameter, the tags associated with the removed queues are not freed, causing a memory leak. This occurs because shrinking nr_hw_queues does not deallocate the tags for queues that are no longer needed.

Exploitation requires administrative access to configfs and the ability to create and modify null_blk devices. The memory leak manifests only when actively reducing hardware queues on block devices, which is not a typical runtime operation, limiting the practical impact of this flaw.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.