CVE-2023-53234
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-09-15
Last updated on: 2025-12-03
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | From 4.9.225 (inc) to 4.10 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 4.14.182 (inc) to 4.14.308 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 4.19.93 (inc) to 4.19.276 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.4.8 (inc) to 5.4.235 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.5 (inc) to 5.10.173 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.11 (inc) to 5.15.100 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.16 (inc) to 6.1.18 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.2 (inc) to 6.2.5 (exc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-401 | The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a memory leak in the Linux kernel's watchdog device registration process. Specifically, when the function watchdog_cdev_register fails at cdev_device_add and the watchdog device id is not zero, the put_device function is not called, causing allocated memory not to be freed. This results in unreferenced objects remaining in memory, which is reported by kmemleak as memory leaks.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
The impact of this vulnerability is that it causes memory leaks in the Linux kernel when registering watchdog devices. Over time, these leaks can lead to increased memory usage and potentially degrade system performance or stability, especially on systems that frequently load or unload watchdog modules.
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability can be detected by monitoring kmemleak reports for memory leaks related to watchdog_cdev_register. Specifically, checking for unreferenced objects associated with modprobe and watchdog devices in the kernel memory leak reports can indicate the presence of this issue. Commands to detect this include enabling and using kmemleak in the Linux kernel and checking its output, for example: 1) Enable kmemleak: echo scan > /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak 2) Check kmemleak reports: cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
The immediate mitigation step is to apply the patch that fixes the watchdog_cdev_register function to ensure put_device is called in all cases where cdev_device_add fails, preventing memory leaks. Until the patch is applied, monitoring kmemleak reports and avoiding loading vulnerable watchdog modules may reduce impact.