CVE-2023-53261
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-09-15

Last updated on: 2025-12-02

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: coresight: Fix memory leak in acpi_buffer->pointer There are memory leaks reported by kmemleak: ... unreferenced object 0xffff00213c141000 (size 1024): comm "systemd-udevd", pid 2123, jiffies 4294909467 (age 6062.160s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 04 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 18 10 14 3c 21 00 ff ff ...........<!... 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<000000004b7c9001>] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x2f8/0x348 [<00000000b0fc7ceb>] __kmalloc+0x58/0x108 [<0000000064ff4695>] acpi_os_allocate+0x2c/0x68 [<000000007d57d116>] acpi_ut_initialize_buffer+0x54/0xe0 [<0000000024583908>] acpi_evaluate_object+0x388/0x438 [<0000000017b2e72b>] acpi_evaluate_object_typed+0xe8/0x240 [<000000005df0eac2>] coresight_get_platform_data+0x1b4/0x988 [coresight] ... The ACPI buffer memory (buf.pointer) should be freed. But the buffer is also used after returning from acpi_get_dsd_graph(). Move the temporary variables buf to acpi_coresight_parse_graph(), and free it before the function return to prevent memory leak.
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Meta Information
Published
2025-09-15
Last Modified
2025-12-02
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2025-09-15
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-14
NVD
CVE-2023-53261
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel From 5.3 (inc) to 6.5.3 (exc)
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Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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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.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a memory leak in the Linux kernel's coresight component related to the ACPI buffer pointer. Specifically, the ACPI buffer memory allocated is not properly freed because it is still used after returning from a function called acpi_get_dsd_graph(). The fix involves moving temporary variables and freeing the buffer before the function returns to prevent the memory leak.

Impact Analysis

The memory leak can cause increased memory usage over time, potentially leading to system instability or degraded performance. If the leak is significant, it could exhaust system memory resources, causing crashes or other unexpected behavior in systems running the affected Linux kernel.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by using kmemleak to identify memory leaks related to the ACPI buffer pointer in the Linux kernel. Running kmemleak and checking its reports for unreferenced objects associated with systemd-udevd or coresight components can help detect the issue. Specific commands include enabling kmemleak in the kernel, then checking the kmemleak output via: cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, update the Linux kernel to a version where the coresight memory leak in acpi_buffer->pointer has been fixed. The fix involves freeing the ACPI buffer memory before function return to prevent the leak. Until an update is applied, monitoring for memory leaks using kmemleak and minimizing use of affected components may help reduce impact.

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